Return to Zero (2014) User Reviews

Passes the time

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 6/10 · 28 August 2014]

Maggie had been preparing and waiting for her baby but suddenly things turn on her and she has a miscarriage. This leads to her neighbors and friends pitying her rather than wanting to be with her, her husband cheating and grief beyond any she has ever known. It takes a sudden miracle to bring the couple together again as they prepare for a family again.

Return to Zero was a little boring; the whole pregnancy plot has been done a million times before. Still it's a half-decent movie with okay acting and a great ending. If you're into drama films or Lifetime movies you'll love this; although it's very sad it has its happy moments. Maggie is able to put her baby's memory to rest and have a new one, while still never forgetting the life that was never meant to be.

Bringing It All Back Home

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 28 June 2014]

After some years, happily married Minnie Driver (as Maggie) and husband Paul Adelstein (as Aaron Royal) are expecting their first child. The affluent couple is understandably excited about the arrival of little "Arthur". However, a tragic occurrence during Ms. Driver's ninth month changes everything. "Return to Zero" is based on a true story, according to the opening. Written and directed by Sean Hanish, it's rare to find believability in the "true story" boast, but this one is genuine. Thanks to Mr. Hanish and his co-stars, it gets off to a great start. Although the couple is wealthier and a little more melancholy than most, we can identify with their circumstance and reactions – for example, Driver's tantrum while returning a gift. Yet, while the basics remain intact, the couple drifts away from the audience as they drift away from each other. We lose touch. The confusing flashback to childbirth and loud Christmas in Las Vegas and seem out of place. After an affair ends abruptly and Mr. Adelstein's father pontificates, an effectively emotional conclusion brings it home.

******* Return to Zero (3/8/14) Sean Hanish ~ Minnie Driver, Paul Adelstein, Alfred Molina, Connie Nielsen

May Day

[viamillitaris · 6/10 · 27 December 2017]

This movie is really great. I was delightful and very touched by this story, which describes serious issues in pregnancy and motherhood, especially when a psycho-analyst ( Minnie Driver ), becomes really depressed after she founds out that she cares a dead child in her stomack. This movie, really affected on me, because I'm a midleage man who also dreams about wife, marriage and big happy familly. Unfortunatelly I can' t have children of my own, because I'm sterile, but I hope that one day I'll have a chance to look after my stepchild or something... Doesn't matter. Sincerelly, yours Dusan Petrovic from Belgrade, Serbia.

For Christy above

[rwilder0603-411-211949 · 6/10 · 15 October 2015]

Christy - I am a mother of a stillborn child, having lost my son 12 years ago. I can honestly say in all my years of my own experience and helping TONS of other parents, I have NEVER heard of taking the stillborn child home for a night! Wow! It was brutally hard to leave the hospital without my son, but I think it would've been 1000x harder to try and take him home. I may be wrong, if this loss has taught me anything it's that you really can't say for sure about anything unless you've lived it, but I just can't fathom it. In a bereaved parent's shoes, I will say I don't find it morbid. Before my loss I probably would have, but you see it differently when you love that child with a mom's heart. I do know hospitals try and give you as much of a "normal" experience as possible. They will bathe, dress, swaddle, take pics, etc. It really is healing in an odd way. But taking them home? I can't imagine.

A movie about kids for people who don't have kids

[xhidden99 · 5/10 · 29 July 2017]

Don't get me wrong it hits all the made for TV sappy points. It's appropriately condescending to men as all pregnant women movies are supposed to be. The dialog is little too snappy repartee though. But not a bad effort. We've seen this a thousand times. Check all the boxes, men bad women good. But mostly it's a movie about pregnant women and babies for women who don't have kids and likely never will. Why? Because it doesn't really work this way. Sorry but no. In the real world the doctors want to walk away from this sort of thing asap. And in the real world it doesn't split up couples any more than any other medical shock. People without kids think it does but it does not.

A Personal Review

[kempel13 · 10/10 · 31 March 2014]

My wife and I were fortunate enough to attend the Return to Zero world premier last night (March 8, 2014) and we connected with the film so strongly that I wanted to recommend it to everyone.

We lost our twins, Marshall and Spencer, ten months ago on May 2 of 2013. They were born perfectly healthy at 22 weeks 3 days, but they just weren't ready for life outside of the womb. They each lived for only an hour. When we left the hospital without our boys we came home to a life that was forever changed. We held each other, cried, and began the process of searching for answers and one of the places we looked was to Hollywood. As we spent days on the couch we wanted to watch a movie that depicted what we were going through. Fictional or not, we wanted to actually see someone else make it out of the hell we were in and more importantly, we wanted to know how they did it. We read synopsis after synopsis and could not find ONE movie that told the whole story of losing an unborn child—not premature birth, miscarriage, or still birth. However, we discovered that one was in the works and it was called, Return to Zero.

Fast forward 8 months and it just so happened that the world premier was right in our backyard. And coincidentally, today is the day that last year we found out our twins were boys. So, this was a special weekend for us. We had the opportunity to watch the movie with the writer and director, Sean Hanish, producer Paul Joconi-Biery, and Sean's wife, Kiley. We then even got to have dinner and hang out with them and some other great people who have shared our same experience. What a great night.

The movie was incredible. It's a true story about a happy couple who were pregnant with their first child when just before their due date, they learned that their baby had died. What's unique about Return to Zero is that you follow Maggie, played by Minnie Driver, and Aaron, played by Paul Adelstein, as they go through the entire process a devastating journey previously reserved for only those who have suffered a loss themselves. The writer and director, Sean, got every single little detail right—every emotion, every shared look in the delivery room, interactions with family, dumb comments made by people, and even the humor that's part of the healing process. Yeah, when we're grieving, we still laugh.

When Aaron and Maggie leave the hospital they begin the healing process, which we quickly learn doesn't exactly happen in a straight line. We follow them through a handful of, ah, how should I say this not so helpful coping strategies. Since the trailer hasn't even been released for the film yet, I don't want to say too much, but since the website synopsis says it, I think I'm safe to say—they do end up getting pregnant again and I'm sure you can imagine the anxiety that they must have after going through their previous loss.

Minne Driver and Paul Adelstein were spot on with their portrayals of Aaron and Maggie. They are 100% believable as a couple, and as grieving parents of a lost child. Their raw emotion had my wife and me feeling like we were reliving our own tragedy up on the screen, which surprisingly, was comforting. The supporting cast gave equally awesome performances. To name a few, you've got Alfred Molina, Connie Nielsen who you might remember as the wife of Maximus in Gladiator, and Emmy award winner Kathy Baker.

All around, this is a wonderful movie that needed to be made. Unless people have gone through a similar situation themselves, I don't think that they really understand what parents go through when they lose an unborn child. For anyone who has a lost child of their own and feels alone and misunderstood, Return to Zero will show you that others have experienced exactly what you have, and they made it through. If you haven't lost a child, but know someone who has, this movie may help you understand what we go through and that it's OK to talk to us while we grieve, and more likely than not, welcomed. And for those who have gone through a loss and find yourselves with a family member or friend that just doesn't get it, as someone suggested last night, just tell them, "Don't talk to me until after you've watched Return to Zero."

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Go see this movie.

good but with reservations

[amdg4-594-558429 · 5/10 · 21 June 2017]

Good movie; great story line BUT!!! Gratuitous sex, language, crude talk was completely unjustified, unnecessary and annoying. Minnie Driver is a great actress but her credibility went down for me in this movie. No actor or actress needs to reduce themselves to such gutter language and behavior, ESPECIALLY taking God's holy Name in vain.

Important movie!!

[zensi67 · 10/10 · 16 June 2014]

I finally feel validated!! This deeply personal movie was needed! You see, my husband I lost our daughter at 41 weeks. It was a healthy, uneventful, normal pregnancy! One day all was fine, the next day I went into labor and all was lost! When you hear the words "there is no cardiac activity", all the world comes to a standstill. Nothing is as it used to be. Normal is gone, a new normal is beginning. It starts with giving birth to a lifeless, beautiful, healthy looking, but oh so lifeless child, and "ends" with living every day with the truth of having birthed this beautiful girl. Missing her in every way! Being "just fine" for hours, then days, weeks, and months, only to feel overwhelmed by this grief again, this sadness, anger, all stages of grief! This movie validates and puts words to my thoughts, my emotions, and those of my husband! We were lucky enough to donate to this movie, so we could see our gorgeous daughter's name in the credits. I cried the entire movie. This truly did happen to me! Yes it did, almost 11 years ago. And though it has been so very long, this pain is still raw at times. This story needed to be told! Thank you, Sean Hanish for giving us a voice. Us as parents, us as a community, and our babies. Thank you Minnie Driver, Paul Adelstein, and all you wonderful actors for the extremely true to life portrayals! Thank you, from the bottoms of our hearts!

Valuable to all!

[livlife-895-220024 · 10/10 · 22 May 2014]

I truly appreciated the making of this movie, and believe everyone should see it! I find the arrogance of a previous reviewer appalling. This movie was made to break the silence for EVERYONE who suffered pregnancy or infant loss! The central theme of the movie was about still birth because that was the individual experience of the creators but it was not meant to isolate any one, nor was it made to diminish the grief people like me felt losing a baby at 23 weeks. I'm not sure if my review has any value as I'm not part of the elite stillbirth club, shucks if only my baby had hung on 1 more week her death would have held the correct medical term! *rolls eyes* I followed and promoted this movie because I believe it's important. If you have never experienced a loss watch it, chances are pretty good you will know someone who will and it does a excellent job of telling you what not to say/do! This movie shares a truth that you can not understand if you've never been there! I saw my pain, my anger and my fear on screen, imagine that ! My favorite part of the movie is expressed in the quote 'it's not just the loss of the baby, it's the loss of the possibility of what could have been' ! Too bad some people still don't get it! Sad really! It's a tough movie to watch but so important. Minnie Driver did a amazing job as did all those involved!! I may have expressed a little more than a review but I feel it's important that NO ONE is made to feel like their loss has no value.

Return to Zero- ****

[edwagreen · 10/10 · 24 June 2014]

Outstanding 2014 true-life film detailing a high powered couple having their marriage disintegrate when they discover their unborn child has died in the womb.

The cast is terrific and is headed by Minnie Driver as the mother and Paul Adelstein, her husband. Alfred Molina, as the hard driven father, who puts business ahead of everything and Kathy Baker, unrecognizable due to her hairdo, is philosophical at her best.

The tragedy they endure leads to a failing marriage as they question just about everything about themselves and he falls into drinking and an affair with his assistant. The Driver character becomes hard to deal with as her torment gets the best of her.

Excellent made-for-TV movie, showing all sides of grief

[juneebuggy · 8/10 · 2 October 2014]

This was heartbreaking and super well done for a made-for-TV movie. It's a true story following a happy couple who are pregnant with their first child when just before their due date, they learn that the baby has died and will be stillborn.

Return To Zero follows that couple through the devastating grief that follows. The pain expressed here is palpable, raw, and so well shown in its many forms (denial, anger, alcohol abuse) We also get a look at how family and friends don't always know the right things to say.

In a last ditch effort to save their marriage (and ignore the Holiday season) our couple take a trip to Vegas which leaves them facing the terrifying prospect of another pregnancy. There's an excellent extended cast here too along with Minnie Driver who is absolutely fantastic as Maggie. 6/18/14

Wonderful performances... excellent storytelling.

[JoeRussell1 · 10/10 · 6 June 2014]

Minnie Driver's performance in this film is one of the most beautiful performances I have ever seen. Andrea Anders was perfect too. This movie is filled with real moments. Many of those moments are hard to imagine for those not touched by losing a baby and are very hard to watch for those who have. Nothing is fake... nothing is "hollywood." This is some of the best storytelling I have ever seen. As the credits rolled... I sat there feeling something... I am not sure what. It was not a good feeling... or a bad feeling... I just 'felt' something very strongly. I am not sure how to describe it... but I know for a fact that no film has ever left me feeling like that before.

Thank you for breaking the silence

[valenciacr · 10/10 · 20 May 2014]

This is definitely worth watching. Grab a box of tissue for you and your significant other. Overall, I cannot say it is a great movie because of the subject matter, but I give it 10 stars, not because I love it, but because I think everyone should watch it just once. I am really glad this movie was made, and even more glad that I watched it. This was a movie that my husband did not want to watch because he didn't really want to re-live our past through a movie. But he watched it with me reluctantly, and had very similar reactions to me. There were some parts of the movie that were dramatized (such as the affair Aaron had) which I felt was unnecessary. It risks telling people that a mistake done under duress is somehow more forgivable than under other circumstances. I know many people who have suffered losses and have not cheated on their significant other. Yes, it can put a strain on a relationship, but there is no excuse to have an affair. The other thing that bothered me was the conversation between Maggie and her mom in the movie about miscarriages, though I appreciate that her mom addressed it well. No, a miscarriage is not the same as a stillbirth; however the loss is no less painful or devastating. I think the dramatization of the story took away from the heart of the issue at hand, but I understand in order to have Lifetime pick it up it needed to have some plot twists. More movies like this need to be made to create awareness around this taboo subject. There are thousands of other stories out there. THANK you to Sean and Kiley Hanish for having the courage to share the story of their beautiful son, Norbert.

Return to Zero

[shandatyson · 10/10 · 18 May 2014]

The movie was great. I am so thankful that they aired this movie because this does happen in life. I experienced it twice and it took a piece of my life with me when it happens. My first experience was Aug of 2005 carried my son full term and had c section for him to leave me without a good bye i cried i distant myself from everyone because no one new how i felt and how hopeless i felt. Autopsies was done found nothing was wrong, I could not understand this i ask so many times why me everyone told me that God wouldn't put too much on you that you couldn't handle. I pray i told God i know this battle is not mines but Lord i feel like this is too much to bear because i can't handle it. I couldn't go around babies or other mom that was expected because i didn't want sees other people expressing their joy and mines are not with me. I know grief also create tension and division within Families, but everyone handles it different. I tried again and it happen again may 2006 full term went to doc Friday baby is fine went to doc Mon no heart beat Lord I'm lost i don't know what to do. I cried everyday all day me and my husband grew apart and i was so depress but finally i gave birth to two beautiful kids a boy and girl but i was so scared and paranoid during my entire pregnancy. I still go to my son grave site and put toys and flowers on their but i can't talk about situation because it brings back all the pain. I'm glade i was able to get through this because i almost gave up, I was at the end of my rope but i didn't give up the love for my son gave me strength. At one point in my life i was so down that i wanted to end my misery but i came through and I'm a proud mom of three wonderful kids that i love with all my heart. I went through a lot and I'm so thankful that i made it through because some can't i buried my child when i was 23 now I'm 32. I didn't lose my faith in God i just didn't understand why. But i have two perfect Angels smiling down on me and watching over me.

The loss of possibilities ...

[stephanlinsenhoff · 10/10 · 7 June 2015]

... of what could have been." Perhaps the most important what is said (based on the true story, the directors, his script, his experience) by the mother who never told it to anyone but now to her distressed daughter. Return to Zero is about loss: return to nothing, to the beginning. What to do. How to cope with it. With a loss. Not once but more than: ... miss carriage. How does people react. However and how: it is wrong. Even the silence. The gaze that quickly turns away. The Governor's female lead is here also the lead: Minnie Driver. When difficulties come the man falls for Another woman. She is not alone with her miss carriage. Maggies mother and many others where and are in 'same boat' - her mother. Nnever told. And the doctor: lost a part of herself that day and the reason to be a doctor. What the miss carriage taught her: to be thankful for what has happened, an experience not many parents are near to.

Celebrating Thanksgiving with the parents and the traditional wishes: and Maggies wish not to Life but grateful to death.

And Maggies wish of divorce, a thought that Aaron is not able to accept but accepting for now a separation.

But then the miracle. Pregnant: the gift of Christmas eve. And again a miscarriage. But the hour together with the stillborn is a memorable moment, unable to forget. "I am afraid, afraid of everything" Maggi says.

Then again pregnant: "I am pregnant" she tell her mother. And her mother: "I lost a baby, too. A year before you. It is a loss and it hurts. It is not the loss of a child. It is the loss av a possibility of what could have been." The pregnancy units the separated parents again. A girl that survives and lives. The mother is not happy, not sad, fell nothing: "I am a bad mother." The doctor understands: "I know. After what you have gone through." The day after Maggie tells of Arthur to her baby girl: "Hello, I am you mother. Difficult, I know. I tell you about a person. His name is Arthur. He is your big brother. He will always be with you. He will see that we are together a long time. Dear, you are so lovely."

The after text: In loving memory of Norbert Krekorian Hanish, born 12 July 2005 - the directors son. And: "For more information and for a film discussion guide, visit returntozerothemovie.com", followed by: This film is dedicated in loving memory to: all the stillborn names. Aaron betrays his wife with a woman: a try to cope with his sorrow. The prepared baby room whitewashes. Whatever one does, says: wrong as the snowflake-gift. 1 of 160 stillborn has no one an answer of its reason: for Maggie and Aaron and all the others) no answering help.

Taking a stillborn home...

[ChristyInOregon · 9/10 · 18 May 2014]

Not sure yet exactly what they did to deal with the loss in the movie (watching it right now) so this is not a spoiler. I'm curious about the options parents have when they find out their child will be stillborn. I watched an interview about a couple that went through this and the hospital encouraged them to take the child home for a night. As someone who has never been pregnant and doesn't have kids, it seemed like a strange and morbid thing to do. If you've experienced this kind of loss or watched others go through it, what is your take on taking a stillborn child home? Is it helpful in dealing with the loss or does it create even more sad memories?

A re-set after a tragedy is a "Return to Zero", a starting point.

[TxMike · 1 December 2023]

We somehow missed this fine movie nine years ago when it came out, but presently found it on DVD at our public library.

It is about a couple who are expecting their first child, a boy, they will name him Arthur, they paint his room blue and prepare for the job of raising their son. But something happens, tragedy strikes, and they have to re-evaluate their whole lives.

The story is based on a real couple who went through this, the DVD extras include remarks by the husband who wrote about it and directs this movie. So what is presented is highly authentic.

Paul Adelstein is the husband, Aaron Royal, and Minnie Driver is the wife, Maggie Royal. Both are excellent in their roles. Driver even co-wrote and co-sings the song over the closing credits. She has a very nice singing voice.

It is not a pleasant subject, on the surface, but turns out to being a good movie.