The tenth Santander Film Festival has just screened In vitro in its Series section. It was created by Alejandra Guimerà and Marc Crehuet, who also directed it, and stars David Verdaguer and Bruna Cusí (who had already worked together on Summer 1993). The series was produced by Moiré Films, Rodar y Rodar and 3Cat, and will arrive in the autumn on said TV channel as well as on the HBO Max platform.

Cineuropa: Is this a series for parents, for those who want to become parents, or for those who haven’t decided yet?
Alejandra Guimerà: It's for everyone - even for those who don’t want to be parents, because it also talks about exactly that: about not being sure, about asking yourself whether you really want to be one or not, and about the social pressure that still exists around that decision. Sometimes, it seems as if having children were a mandatory step in adult life, and the series also wants to question that.

What ethical, scientific and hot-button topics does it address?
AG: It deals with concrete realities. For example, the fact that 40 is not the new 30, biologically speaking. Also with how assisted reproduction is a wonderful scientific breakthrough, which allows many people who cannot conceive naturally to form families and has also opened the door to diverse family models. But, at the same time, it’s a field that moves a lot of money and that requires limits. In Europe, there are debates around the legal framework, donor anonymity, reproductive tourism and the extent to which certain laws may favour a business. Our intention wasn’t to judge, but to put all of those topics on the table. To inform, open up questions and look at that reality from different angles.

Is comedy the best way to tackle serious subjects?
Marc Creuhet: I don’t know if it’s the best way, but it’s the one I like the most. I’ve always tried to make comedy that contained elements of drama or that had a strong dramatic foundation. In the case of In vitro, we think there’s a good definition for the genre it falls under: “dramedy”. That's because we felt it couldn’t be pure comedy, as we ran the risk of trivialising the suffering associated with assisted reproduction; but we didn’t want to make a straight drama either, because it would have been too intense.

Beyond your own experience, did you do research by talking to many couples who wanted to be parents at all costs?
AG: Yes. For better or for worse, we had a very close circle who had also been through treatments: my older sister, Marc’s sister, close friends… It hit close to home. In addition, we conducted interviews to understand the enormous diversity of cases that exist and the new family models that have been appearing around assisted reproduction. We spoke with patients and with professionals: embryologists, gynaecologists, clinics and so on.

Family diversity is tackled from the very first minute; it's a very topical subject. Would a series like this have been unthinkable years ago?
AG: Probably, yes, or at least it would have been more difficult. But family diversity has existed for a long time. What’s happened is that, for years, it wasn’t given any visibility. For us, it was important to show that reality in a natural way because many people still live it in silence, as a taboo or even with guilt. The series tries to accompany those stories and give them space.

What sets it apart from other shows set in hospitals?
MC: Many things. To begin with, although medicine is involved in assisted reproduction, it’s also the work of biologists who act as embryologists, selecting sperm and eggs, creating embryos... Creating life. It’s a little-known and fascinating job, and we decided our protagonists had to do it. In addition, the assisted reproduction process entails a deep and often painful emotional journey. So the patients’ psychological processes carry a lot of weight. That’s why In vitro would almost be closer to a series about psychologists than one about doctors.

What’s the most deeply personal aspect of yours in it?
AG: Aside from our son, who is at the emotional origin of all this, the series contains many brushstrokes of what we lived through during our own treatments. We spent several years between having our first child and trying for a second, which ultimately didn’t happen, because we decided to set limits and stop. And I think that’s present in the series: egg donation, genetic grief, desire, exhaustion, hope, fear and also the need to know how far you want to go. All of the episode stories draw on our experiences or on ones very close to us.