When you struggle with infertility or experience pregnancy loss, it can feel like you’re alone in the world. Between pregnancy announcements on social media and insensitive relatives that always seem to say the wrong thing, infertility can make you feel like an outlier. Though infertility is extremely common, it’s not always discussed publicly due to its pain and stigma. There has, however, been a positive shift in society in the last few years, with many celebrities, like Meghan Markle, openly discussing their journeys with miscarriage or IVF. These conversations are important and illustrate that infertility does not discriminate; it affects people of all genders, races, cultures, incomes, and abilities. We applaud the stars who have used their massive platform to normalize fertility struggles because we all want to be seen at the end of the day. To help you feel seen, we’ve compiled a list of the best infertility movies you can stream now. Keep reading to add these to your “must-watch” list.
Private Life
What it’s about: A New York couple played by Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn are coping with infertility struggles. The pair try to keep their marriage afloat as they navigate through the world of adoption and assisted reproduction. This film is special in that it offers a painful yet realistic glimpse into infertility; the bumpy road to parenthood, male infertility, IVF, surrogacy, debt from fertility treatments, marriage struggles, hope, loss, and adoption among other topics.
Where to watch: Netflix
Then She Found Me
What it’s about: A woman played by Helen Hunt is blindsided when her husband, played by Colin Firth, leaves her. She is then left to pick up the pieces while dealing with the sudden death of her adoptive mother. Later in the film, her biological mother enters the picture, desperate to have a relationship with her. Hunt’s newly single character then discovers she is pregnant, only to suffer a miscarriage shortly after. This infertility movie touches on many important topics like adoption and miscarriage.
Where to watch: DVD only
Rabbit Hole
What it’s about: This film tells the story of how a married couple, played by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart are mourning the death of their four-year-old child eight months after he was struck dead by a car. Though this movie is not about infertility per se, it offers a poignant and gut-wrenching view on loss, pain, and healing after trauma.
Where to watch: Prime Video
The Light Between Oceans
What it’s about: This film, based on the novel by M. L. Stedman, stars Alicia Vikander as a wife to a lighthouse keeper that experiences two painful miscarriages. After an infant girl appears in a rowboat near their lighthouse, the grief-stricken couple is faced with a moral dilemma to either keep the baby or find the biological parents. After deciding to keep the girl they name Lucy, the film depicts love and loss in harrowing detail.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
Maybe Baby
What it’s about: ‘Maybe Baby’ is a British film that stars Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson as a married couple unable to conceive. After trying everything they can think of to have a child, the husband played by Laurie decides to write a screenplay about their fertility woes. Using his wife’s diary entries, Laurie crafts a successful film depicting their struggles.
Where to watch: DVD only
Infertility Movie | One More Shot
What it’s about: This documentary offers a real first-hand account of a couple, Maya and Noah, struggling through infertility. In the film, they document the medical treatments, emotional roller coasters, and the toll that infertility has taken on them and their marriage.
Where to watch: Vimeo On Demand
What To Expect When You’re Expecting
What it’s about: This star-studded film depicts the lives of five couples as they navigate very different paths to parenthood. Though there are multiple comedic storylines in the movie, the one that sticks out here is the plot featuring Anna Kendrick and Chace Crawford. Kendrick and Crawford star as dueling food truck owners that hook up and become pregnant unexpectedly. After digesting the news and bracing themselves for parenthood, Kendrick’s character experiences a miscarriage. The miscarriage scene is one of the few serious moments in the movie and it’s truly hard to forget.
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
At The Gift of Parenthood organization, we know all too well how common infertility is which is why we aim to help couples and individuals struggling with infertility achieve their dreams of becoming parents through fertility assistance grants ranging from $1,000 to $16,000, available four times a year.