Last week, viewers gathered at the Angelika Film Center on West Houston for the premier of “40 Weeks,” a documentary by filmmaker Christopher Henze that follows 13 women and their families throughout the course of their pregnancy—from the first sonogram to delivery room. By interweaving Henze’s own footage of the families’ alongside home videos shot by the women and their families and expert commentary, the movie provides both an intimate and informative picture of what pregnancy is really like for women and their partners. The film dives beyond the pink and blue balloons and shows, with empathy and humor, the challenges that expecting moms might not know to expect–from buying a life insurance policy to the challenges of exiting a tightly parked car with a big belly.
The prgenancy of Henze’s wife, Dominique Debroux, inspired him to make the film. While pregnant with the couple’s daughter, Debroux noticed that there weren’t any films or programs that really provided a look at what other pregnant women were going through, and how they were dealing with all of the changes in their bodies. “For me, the desire for this movie came from need,” Debroux says.
Henze thinks of the film as an homage, not only to what his wife went through with her pregnancy, but to the experiences of pregnant women everywhere. “I watched my wife put her body on the line to give me my beautiful daughter Gaia,” Henze says. “I’m so grateful for what she did.”
Henze and Debroux were very dedicated to ensuring the families included in the film represented a truly diverse cross-section of American families. In addition to holding casting calls and spreading the word through OB clinics and fertility sites, Henze looked for opportunities to include women in his day to day life, even finding women willing to participate in a grocery store.
“We found women in all ways, and what moved me the most about the search was once our moms realized that I was making a movie to serve women throughout their process of pregnancy they gave it their all,” Henze says. “They fully let us into their most intimate moments.”
And that, perhaps, is the film’s greatest gift. There are many hard difficult moments: One expectant mom works to change her diet in order to avoid gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia; another suffers from extreme morning sickness, struggling with debilitating nausea throughout the majority of her pregnancy. But all of the women approach the incredible changes and challenges they are facing with strength and a sense of humor. In the end, the message is refreshing: no one has a perfect pregnancy.
“I realized that through my pregnancy I had decided that there where ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ways to go through pregnancy,” Debroux says. “Seeing all these different stories, and ways of handling the highs and lows of the pregnancy journey made me realize that caring for your growing baby and giving over to the changes is the greatest thing.”
“40 Weeks” is being distributed by Gathr Films, which allows viewers to request a screening in a nearby venue–if enough people request a ticket, the film will be shown at the appointed venue. To request or find a 40 Weeks screening and catch webisodes that follow the journeys of five additional families, visit 40weeksthemovie.com.
