'Juno'

For a long time I was of the opinion I'd see anything with French actress Beatrice Dalle in it. My obsession dated back to 1986's "Betty Blue," which featured a performance by Dalle of such typhoon-like passion and intensity that nothing she's done since even comes close. Still, I indulged her, out of gratitude or infatuation, catching every film I found that had her name in the credits.

This was no easy task, since for every good role the wild child got there have been three or four turkeys. About halfway through her latest, "A l'interieur," opening June 21, which involves pregnancy, lots of blood and scissors (need I say more?), I realized my policy was going to have to change. I walked on it; there are some things your life is not better for having seen.

It got me thinking, though: Why is pregnancy so often portrayed as a horrible bummer on the big screen? You can go back as far as "Rosemary's Baby" or as fast-forward to "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" to see it depicted in the darkest hues possible. Hell, even Padme dies during childbirth in "Revenge of the Sith," a situation that also occurs in "Pan's Labyrinth." Pregnancy is so often seen as something to be terminated, either voluntarily ("Vera Drake") or involuntarily ("Kill Bill"), that you wonder how the happiest event in so many people's lives has become such a trauma on screen.