“… if you know anything about me, I have spent the last 10 years of my life, what some would consider the lifeblood of a woman’s career, just trying to have children. And I get to testify in front of all of you that the Lord gave me Benjamin, and Brielle, and then he still gave me this.”
If one is willing to open their eyes and look around, patterns form. Medical professionals will prescribe pain relief to men seeking vasectomies, while women are often given Tylenol for equivalent procedures or worse. This doesn’t even get into how frequently medical treatments for women were developed using men as the baseline. In terms of work and home life, men are celebrated for working hard to provide for their family and are lifted when out with their children; conversely, women are often derided for seeking to advance themselves within a career and are presumed to be doing “as-expected” when doing anything with their children (publicly or otherwise). Having its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2024, documentarians Chris Bolan (A Secret Love) and Melissa Haizlip (Mr. SOUL!) explore the unnecessary conflict that seems to only impact half the world’s population through the specific lens of Hamilton’s Renée Elise Goldsberry via her public award-winning role and private struggles with fertility in their new project Satisfied. The name-recognition Goldsberry brings to the topic will bring in audiences longing to get a behind-the-scene peek at one of the biggest musicals in modern entertainment, but it’s the actor’s willingness to expose herself which is the key to shifting perspectives.
L-R: Renée Elise Goldsberry and Alexis Johnson with their two children in the documentary SATISFIED. Photo courtesy of Stick Figure Productions/Tribeca Film Festival.
A bit of context for those who need it: in 2015, a cultural shift occurred as audiences discovered actor/playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda’s (In the Heights) latest project Hamilton, a musical that’s easily summed up as a multicultural hip-hop interpretation of American founding father Alexander Hamilton’s life. That is, of course, a massive reduction to what Hamilton is, as audiences worldwide have since discovered it in the near-10 years since the play moved from workshops to Off-Broadway to Broadway to Disney+. It’s a work of art whose brilliance outweighs its struggles and whose cast has rightfully been elevated as a result. Among the cast are Daveed “Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson” Diggs (Blindspotting), Oscar-winner Ariana “The Bullet” DeBose (West Side Story), Jonathan “King George III” Groff (The Matrix Resurrections; Doctor Who), Phillipa “Eliza Schuyler” Soo (Over the Moon), Jasmine “Peggy Schuyler” Cephas Jones (Blindspotting), and Renée “Angelica Schuyler” Elise Goldsberry (Tick, Tick… Boom!; She-Hulk: Attorney at Law). For audiences, seeing this original cast as they performed eight shows a week was an undeniable delight, lives changing in the process. But what does it mean to be a performer on such a stage in such a show, and what does it cost? In particular, why does it cost the women in the cast so much more?
While Goldsberry may have appeared to be an overnight sensation, the actor’s been working for decades with films ranging from All Bout You (2001), Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway (2008), and Sisters (2015), amid television programs like Ally McBeal (1997-2002), Royal Pains and White Collar (2010), The Following (2013), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2013-2014). At some point, the working actor decided to start recording videos offering insight into their daily lives from moments with her family to behind-the-scenes looks at whatever project she’s working on. If you go to her Instagram page, you can find these videos continuing, even advertising for this documentary. These videos, along with other behind-the-scenes footage from other sources, talking head interviews with Goldberry, and new footage, are edited together to offer an intersected look at the person and the performer. This translates into a cinematic experience that’s less of a deep dive into Goldsberry holistically and more of a specific look at the two things she’s always wanted, to be a mother and an actor, and how these desires are often treated as at-odds for women. With the editing together of video from these various sources, audiences are primarily guided through the period of 2013 – 2023 with stop-offs in 2008 and during her adolescence. So, while there’s an emphasis placed on her journey to being cast as Angelica (a role she nearly passed on auditioning for), it’s entirely through the perspective of what she’s going through at the time. So, on the one hand, we watch footage of she and her husband, Alexis Johnson, as they go to Ethiopia to adopt a baby girl, listening to new narration from Goldsberry and viewing footage that, together, form a tale of someone whose dream of a second child is coming true. On the other, we’re shown a professional actor struggle with why someone would send a role listed as a “Nicki Minaj-type” to her, only to been blown away listening to a Miranda-performed draft of “Satisfied,” a significant song for the character. Directors Bolan and Haizlip ensure that the message is clear — Goldsberry is facing a dilemma that all working mothers face, and the unfairness of the social ramifications are difficult for audiences to ignore.
Renée Elise Goldsberry in the documentary SATISFIED. Photo courtesy of Stick Figure Productions/Tribeca Film Festival.
Interestingly, where there are clearly several scenes of Satisfied in which the footage is archived, there are also some which seem newly-shot, reconstructions of moments in the past that could not possibly by captured at the time. The scene in which Goldsberry listens to “Satisfied” is one of those moments, and, as if to ease the reality-bending, the screen changes from capturing Goldsberry’s reaction to the song as she talks about what she felt in that moment of initial listening to a visualizer of the song being performed so that we, like Goldsberry, can be enraptured by this raw draft of a song that would later become iconic. The importance of this scene is how it is one piece of a larger style choice that, consciously or not, signals how the issues that Goldsberry dealt with pre-Hamilton remain the same issues today. At no point are men given the same level of scrutiny when they become parents or are they given the same shame should they opt out of parenthood entirely, and though the second part isn’t relevant to Goldsberry’s story, both mentioned aspects are undercurrent issues that flow throughout Satisfied. There are no answers within Satisfied on this topic; it’s not proselytizing in any way, shape, or form, but as story after story of Goldsberry’s fertility struggles, her desire to grow her family, amid trying to also build a career in a field she loves, a career that’s as much feast and famine even for actors like herself who’s performed on television, film, and in theater (The Color Purple) are shared, one can’t help but form a viewpoint that so much of a women’s experience in navigating these issues are significantly tipped against women where systems are in place (actual and socially accepted) for men. Johnson is one of three men who speak in the documentary (Miranda and Goldsberry’s high school theater teacher, Dr. Charles Geroux, who receives a dedication, being the other two) and his words are of deep appreciation, support, and value for his wife’s work. He speaks of her as a person in the same way many would speak of him as a lawyer or professional with years of experience in the field of communications technology, yet it comes across like a revelation. To paraphrase, as long as she’s passionate about what she’s doing, he’s passionate about what she’s doing. That’s a partnership and it shouldn’t feel as extraordinary as it is. Yet, when one learns about the battles Goldsberry faced, and still faces, to earn and maintain the role of Angelica, it’s hard not to see how society is far too often hard on women in a way that men never endure.
The biggest surprise of Satisfied isn’t in the private thoughts, responses, or otherwise behind-the-scenes material for Hamilton that we’re invited to experience. Granted, watching footage of Goldsberry performing “Congratulations,” a song that didn’t make it into the final production but is gloriously performed by Dessa on the album The Hamilton Mixtape, is fantastic, and a strange thematic connection starts to form between the idea within Hamilton of “running out of time” and Goldsberry herself. She knows that her time as an actor is limited and that roles like Angelica, especially an opportunity to originate one, don’t just come along, so taking on this part, with all of its sacrifices (many of which her castmates didn’t have to endure both as non-parents and in the public response to her character) meant time away from her family. Time which she would never get back no matter what she may do during the breadcrumbs of the day or on days off. It’s a lose-lose, therefore requiring her to make the most of everything. This casts a bittersweet shroud over the entire experience of playing Angelica as we watch her take part in entertaining the Ham4Ham crowds, such as with the “Schuyler Georges” performance. While there are plenty of criticisms that could be levied against the narrative of Hamilton or the notion of providing free entertainment via HAM4HAM as tickets were either sold out or priced out, but one can’t apply the same scrutiny to any of the cast for what they gave up for their art.
Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica in the documentary SATISFIED. Photo courtesy of Stick Figure Productions/Tribeca Film Festival.
Satisfied is the story of someone running out of time, yet moving fearlessly through it despite the obstacles that pop up. Calous individuals would try to reduce her struggles as if fame and/or fortune somehow make IVF more affordable or successful, as if any heightened public awareness will prevent miscarriage or remove/replace/make up for the lost time spent with children. All of us makes choices, make deals with ourselves, and must accept the natural consequences of our choices. At no point is it fair that women are more likely to be asked to sacrifice than others. At no point is it right for them to be presumed to be ok with it. There’s no shame, no reduction of self, no desire to have made a different choice, but it’s clear that there is regret. But as Johnson tells us, Goldsberry moves with passion and intention, giving herself as best she can, which is all anyone can do in order to make peace with themselves. Perhaps this documentary can serve as a guiding light for others who seek similar satisfaction and struggle to achieve it.
Screening during Tribeca Film Festival 2024.
In select theaters September 30th – October 2nd, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Tribeca 2024 Satisfied webpage.
Final Score: 4.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
Note from the site publisher: The following reader comment includes material from the documentary that spoils several aspects. Discretion advised.
You’re right – mothers face cruel double standards that need to be recognized and removed for the sake of everyone. It’s incredibly toxic to have children when you’re too busy to support them emotionally, which is not possible when both parents are working full time – a horrible situation for the entire family. Her husband seemed to be stepping up (although obviously unhappy about doing so without his partner), but those kids show classic signs of attachment issues, which can carry on for generations and create adults with low self worth and difficulty in connecting with others. The idea of having children needs desperately to be reframed. I feel sad for all the women forced by societal pressure to have children, often unconsciously. I wonder if Goldsberry felt it was a requirement for a woman? She’s clearly struggling with her choices and she will continue to suffer under the unreasonable “you can have it all” concept that is so pervasive in our culture. Meanwhile she’s experiencing fame and great success (congrats to her), but she’s under supported in her work (feeling as if she’s so replaceable, when in fact she never was) and returns to a neglected home where everyone struggles from lack of attention and emotional resources. Yes, mothers always disproportionately face the blame, but that’s the tip of the iceberg. I found this documentary sad and I hope she gets the help she deserves to minimize her stress and conflicts and find a sustainable solution for her responsibilities and desires. She’s clearly under resourced and often unable to be present (classic trap of worrying about her family life at work and her work with her family). The scene with her young son apologizing after he reasonably became upset about having to leave her at work was particularly heart breaking. Rather than being soothed he was threatened by an overwhelmed mother that he wouldn’t even be able to return to her work if he behaved that way. Her ability to recognize that situation as unhealthy – which she explicitly addresses with the viewer – reveals how powerless she must feel and the depth of her own trauma. Her son is crying out to her and she fails to show up for him because she seemingly is unable to SEE HIM and really feel what is happening to both of them. A woman belongs at work and deserves her own life as much as any other human being, but being a parent requires a lot of sacrifices and children need a village. These kids need and deserve help help. And importantly, we all need to ask ourselves and our loved ones what being alive means to them and how to move through this complicated world in a way where we are all able to recharge and take care of one another. Until then, unfortunately we’re taking on too much and there are consequences.