Ultrasound (2021) The Sci-Fi of Questioning reality in a bold feature Debut (VOD review)

“What is real? How do you define real?” asks Morpheus in the first (and let’s pretend, only) Matrix film. It’s a well-trodden area for dramas, thrillers, and sci-fi films, in particular, to explore. Mental illness, memory loss, dreams, unreliable narrators, mind control, and simulations; all have been used as plot devices for this sub-genre. So, while Ultrasound doesn’t really tread any new ground, what it does, it does well, baffling its characters and often its audience as they try to make sense of what they are seeing and hearing. It’s been compared to Memento, Fight Club and Primer, and there are certainly strong similarities.

It opens with Glen retreating from wet weather after his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. The camera pans to a board of nails, showing the ‘accident’ was deliberate. Strangely, we see a tray of food and drink left out in the rain. Glen finds a remote house and meets Art and Cyndi, who are apparently married, with Art much older. Art persuades Glen to stay the night and tries to engineer a situation where Glen sleeps with Cyndi. Glen learns that Art used to be Cyndi’s teacher. Later Art turns up at Glen’s place and presents him with a video showing that Cyndi is pregnant. Glen isn’t happy but meets with Cyndi to discuss it.

Intercut with the main plot we see apparently unconnected scenes; another couple where the man is concerned about her contacting him too much, and some kind of facility with people in white coats. Then the first major surprise; a woman in the facility is reading a script of the scene we saw previously between Cyndi and Glen, with Glen reading his lines. We learn these “role-playing games” are to help Glen get back the use of his legs.

What follows are scenes between Glen’s therapist Shannon and Dr Conners, complete with wires, one-way mirrors, electrodes, and the like. We also learn that the controlling man from the couple earlier is Alex Harris, running for re-election as senator, and we see him walking around morphing from Alex into Art. Are they the same person?

Most of the reveals are towards the end of the film, which resolves many questions, but you’ll need a little patience to get through the first half. It’s worth the effort if you do, because, as with most films of this type, Ultrasound rewards a second watch-through for you to spot clues, sound elements, and background details to understand things that didn’t quite make sense the first time around. Needless to say, much of what you thought was true turns out not to be, but in a considered way which ties things together.

This film has something to say about manipulative and controlling men, abuse of power through deception and unequal relationships, how science and technology are made to serve the selfish ends of the rich and influential, as well as the vulnerability of patients and dilemmas faced by those treating them between the demands of their job and the needs of those in their care. The military-industrial complex, and its relationship with healthcare, are under the microscope too.

It also has something to say about politics. An ad for the senator on TV shows that he stands for ‘protecting our streets, borders, and the unborn’. It isn’t really a surprise to learn that this man is a cheater and a hypocrite using every trick he can get away with to get ahead, through shady deals in motel rooms. As is usually the case in real life, if you think this dodgy politician will get his comeuppance, you’re going to be disappointed.

There’s enough here to keep you guessing until fairly near the end, as you question motives and loyalties, with shades of the last episode of The Prisoner – although Ultrasound resolves things much less ambiguously than that – or perhaps a good Rick and Morty episode without the laughs.

For the major theme of this film, the clue is in the title. Pregnancy and babies become things to be managed through manipulation and passed around like property, as decisions are made without full knowledge or consent of those directly involved. It’s a theme which seems particularly prescient right now, given the recent overturning of Roe versus Wade in the USA.

The title is also in the audio, as distorted weird humming permeates throughout disorientating background noise and ambient sound, bringing to mind a similar use in Inception. The movie also reminded me of Bandersnatch, Charlie Brooker’s interactive film, in terms of cinematography, with the 80s feel very much in vogue, the plot perhaps influenced by aspects of The Manchurian Candidate and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

The acting is superb throughout, with characters played convincingly. Glen develops the traumatised look with bags under the eyes, Cyndi is troubled, with a young Jodie Foster look about her, and Art is ‘very persuasive’ and unsettlingly and suspiciously amiable.

Primarily, Ultrasound is about power relationships, and what people do when they realise they have been used, lied to, and misled, especially after mistreatment by authority figures. ‘Can we go to the police?’ a character asks at one stage. They never do. ‘How many times have you wiped him?’ I’m not supposed to tell you.’ ‘There’s a lot they haven’t told us.’ ‘This road just keeps on going.’ Doesn’t it just. This is something that requires your attention and keeps you in the dark for most of the way, with twists and turns suggested by off-balance camera angles. Confusing at times, the pacing feels a little off here and there, and perhaps a little rushed towards the end, but maybe that’s by design. There’s no neat ending, with suggestions that, of course, even the resolution might not be what it appears to be, and it’s one that will probably have you thinking about it long after the end credits roll.

It’s a thoughtful and intelligent take on what might have been an otherwise tired concept. Definitely worth your time.

 MATT ON ULTRASOUND