Netflix's Joy follows what went into the landmark development of in-vitro fertilization, with a focus on IVF pioneer Jean Purdy

Their research in the late '60s, early '70s changed the lives of many — since then, over 12 million babies have been born as a result of IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies like it. Directed by Ben Taylor,

Toward the end of Netflix’s “Joy,” the muffled cry of a newborn baby prompts a man and woman in a hospital to embrace out of pure bliss. They aren’t the parents, but they had as much to do with the birth as the mom and dad.

Not to be confused with 2015 Jennifer Lawrence movie, Joy on Netflix is a new 2024 movie starring Thomasin McKenzie that offers a crash course on the history of in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

The new Netflix movie "Joy" is about the British doctors who helped conceive the first IVF baby in the late 1970s.

On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown became the first baby in the world to be born through in vitro fertilization. Known as the first “test-tube baby" — although the IVF process actually takes place on a petri dish — her birth was made possible thanks to the cutting-edge research of three British scientists: Dr.

Louise Joy Brown may be the first success story for IVF, but Joy focuses more on the development of the procedure, with Louise appearing only briefly.