Multiple Choices - The Agony and the Ecstasy
1995 · 13m · Canada
Directed by Alison Burns
Genres: documentary, essay film, LGBTQ+
Tones: contemplative, tender
Parents and prospective parents discuss why they chose parenthood or chose against it, including single parenting by choice, gay and lesbian parenting, and teenage parenthood.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A 1995 essay doc about Why People Have Babies sounds like the most establishment-safe thing imaginable—but Burns refuses the sentimental trap, letting contradictions sit unresolved; the real subversion is that she trusts the audience enough not to resolve anything.
This is the exact lineage work—Burns in conversation with the essay film tradition, particularly the Grierson legacy of giving voice to overlooked subjects—where form and subject matter insist on each other, and the restraint in editing becomes the argument itself.
The decisive move here is Burns's refusal to editorialize: she lets gay parents, teen parents, and childless-by-choice voices occupy the same frame without hierarchy, and that structural choice—treating all testimony as equally weighted—is what makes the film's politics feel earned rather than imposed.