The Business of Being Born
International Film Circuit | Release Date: January 9, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
It's a serious and well-researched consideration of natural childbearing vs. hospital delivery that explores the larger social conditions and assumptions that shape women's choices. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
More propaganda than cinema, and at an hour and a half, its exhaustiveness diminishes its impact. But Epstein anchors the film nicely with her own pregnancy, which occurs while the documentary is in production and comes to an unexpected conclusion before shooting ends. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Passionate, enlightening and unabashedly one-sided, Abby Epstein's documentary is not for everyone. But at the very least, it should be seen by every pregnant woman in America. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleTamara Straus
A powerful, frightening look at America's delivery room. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJulia Wallace
Epstein and Lake have crafted an absorbing, thought-provoking inquiry into what modern birth has become and how to make it better. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A passionate ground-level examination of home childbirth. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Lake and Epstein are not in fact trying to stigmatize other women's choices about how and where to give birth. Instead, they're trying to introduce an entire universe of history and information that should inform those choices, and that the medical establishment has virtually erased from American memory. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary Goldstein
This unflinchingly shot picture is not for the squeamish. Epstein and Lake's own commitment to you-are-there realism is remarkable as well, each bringing new meaning to the phrase "naked truth." Read full review
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