Review | Unexpected Courage movie review: Rene Liu lacks agency in a flawed pregnancy drama

Drawing heavily from personal experience, Taiwanese writer-director Shawn Yu Shao-hsiang’s well-meaning but poorly conceived drama examines the conflicting expectations faced by women in today’s career-driven society.

In a performance that earned her a Golden Horse Award nomination, Rene Liu Ruo-ying stars as Le-fu, a successful talent manager in the midst of a media crisis who suddenly collapses and is rushed to hospital.

Despite an earlier operation that removed a portion of her uterus, the relentless career woman discovers she is four months pregnant. Her condition is incredibly unstable, however, and will require constant treatment – unless she wishes to terminate the pregnancy.

Le-fu’s long-term boyfriend, Po-en (Hsueh Shih-ling), is 12 years her junior and eager to keep the baby. She is less convinced, especially as her boss (Lee Lieh) has just offered her a promotion running the company’s Beijing office.