THE STORY – When Christina’s fiancé dies suddenly, she faces the unexpected decision of whether or not to carry on his legacy via postmortem sperm retrieval.
THE CAST – Christina Hime-Neeley, Mel Cohen, Dr. Cappy Rothman & Brandalynn Vernoff
THE TEAM – Tracy Jarrett (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 96 Minutes
We all know the story: guy meets girl, girl falls in love with guy, they get married, then they have a baby. It is a fairly common chain of events that sets the stage for the next chapter of one’s adult life. But for some individuals, fate has another say. For those unlucky who find the love of their life and then lose them, either suddenly, the idea of holding onto them for as long as possible may drive a person to do what they thought was impossible.
“Retrieval” surrounds the controversial Postmortem Sperm Retrieval (PSMR) procedure, where recent widows decided to pay for the service of medical professionals to retrieve sperm from their recently deceased husband for the hope of one day conceiving their child in the near future. The discovery occurred in 1978 and was first deemed successful in 1999. But even with its known success and living proof, the action is still considered divisive among the American public and the medical field. After all, the only requirements for a woman to be able to harvest a man’s sperm are that they either have to be married to the deceased for at least a year or sexually active with them up until their death.
Director Tracy Jarrett, in her feature-film debut, proves an exquisite documentarian by focusing on one woman’s journey rather than providing an exposé of the procedure. Sure, there are sections of the film dedicated to the doctor who discovered the possibility of using a recently deceased man’s sperm to conceive successfully, but this is mainly the story of Christina Hime-Neely, a newly widowed woman in Florida. Jarrett allows her audience to learn about Wesley before anyone else. Not just about his death, but his love of life, as Christina so eloquently states. It is as if the audience themselves are losing a person and feeling a fraction of the weight Christina and Wesley’s family feel. We learn that their community was a victim of the war on drugs, where multiple friends and family members have died due to substance abuse. Both Christina and Wesley got sober together as a united front. It was as if this was their second chance at life. They planned on starting their fertility journey in August. Wesley died in June.
This allows Jarrett a natural progression toward meeting Dr. Mel Cohen, the leading doctor for PSMR in the country. Here, we see the many hoops both Dr. Cohen and Christina need to jump through for Christina to have the child she always wanted. Due to the controversy, many funeral homes don’t allow Dr. Cohen to enter or retrieve the specimen. And even if he is able, the widows need to then take the sperm to a fertility clinic, which is also unaccustomed to this procedure and hesitant to take them on as clients. Jarrett shows us that this process opens another can of worms, as these women are fighting against fate and a ticking clock, so all of these speed bumps add more distress than another infertility journey.
Both Jarrett and Dr. Cohen know that these women are in the beginning stages of grief, and sometimes, are clinging to their loved ones out of denial and regret. As Dr. Cohen states, the body needs to be dead for a maximum of 72 hours for it to be available for PSMR. Meaning, these women are being forced to make very permanent decisions in the first hours of losing their spouses. The stress that Christina feels is palpable. She urgently wants to try but is constantly being forced to wait because of professionals’ inexperience and hesitation about PSMR. But unlike most documentaries, Jarrett doesn’t impose any judgment on Christina or other women, but allows them to explain why they are choosing this route. Having the first successful PSMR child, Brandalynn, who is now an adult, is a powerful choice as the audience gets to see the child’s perspective on being conceived and born before her father’s death. Dr. Cohen also conducts group sessions with patients at different stages of the journey. This is an opportunity for the women to seek advice from each other and to see that they are not alone in their journey. These scenes showcase how beneficial this journey is for the audience, potential children, family, and women who are just beginning to navigate such a devastating loss.
Decades ago, creating life after death was purely science fiction. And even though technically, today it is, it is still mostly ignored by the medical profession. “Retrieval” showcases a personal journey, steering clear of the ethics and potential negative side of the debate. This may make the film weaker, as Jarrett seems mostly uninterested in that side of the story. But instead, she showcases this subject through her main characters, who were brave enough to share their story. And in this pure honesty, all we can do is observe and reflect on what we would do if the roles were reversed.
