Womb

With a plot about conceiving and cloning your dead beloved I expected this movie to possibly become all kinds of disturbing.

Luckily, the script is dealt with the hands of a director and a cast who handled the script delicately and on a humane level.

That's not to say that this movie is politically correct in any way or won't be disturbing to some, but events that many directors would play for shock-value are dealt with in a way that it feels natural and it deals with mainly grey areas, a complicated issue never have a easy solution after all.

Despite being very slow I was never bored and it sustain my interest throughout, a lot to do with some excellent acting, especially Eva Green shines.

It's also visually very pleasing for the eyes with some very good cinematography.

This film, along with Never Let Me Go, might be the start of a new genre. Mumblecore science fiction, anyone? Both of these movies take a shot at delivering Very Profound Questions to an audience struggling to not burst out crying at the emotive depth of the incredibly touching human drama unfolding at snail's pace on screen. Or so the directors like to think. In Womb, The Great Idea circumnavigates the plot holes admirably, and the wafer-thin characters are brimming over with Love and struggling to come to terms with their sheer Humanity in virtually every shot. Its all rather dull, and, in a low-key fashion, incredibly pompous. Please, all you directors who feel a sudden urge to regale the audience with Deep Truths about Life - stay away from science fiction (unless you're Terrence Malick). Although I have to admit that Eva Green has perfected the enigmatic Mona Lisa-smile. From what I hear she's become pretty much unbeatable in the ring - she will floor you with that smile, flooding your mind with capitalised abstract nouns.

Womb is an excellent drama that is unfortunately marketed the wrong way.

If your first impression of the film is that its an Erotic drama on incest, you couldn't be further from the truth.

The premise itself should be a guideline for whether or not you should watch this film.

"After a tragic accident, a woman decides to clone her lover, and raise him from infancy to adult." The less you know about Womb, the better the experience will be. Suffice to say, its an extremely well made, and honest drama about not being able to let go, and the consequences that follow.

The story centers around Tommy and Rebecca. After the accident, Rebecca makes the controversial decision to clone Tommy to raise him as a child.

Why? To get back her lover? To raise the child she never had? The film never spoon feeds us, and we're left with Eva Greens brilliant performance to see Rebecca unravel.

We see her care about the Tommy's clone, and genuinely wants to be a good mother, but there's an underlying foreboding with the possibility of incest. Rebecca struggles to keep her feelings to being a mother, but there's obvious jealously when women come into Tommy's life, and thats the main conflict of the film.

Certainly, this taboo possibility is the main drive of the second half of the film, but its much more than that.

Womb is brilliant because of how well its crafted.

There is an isolation to the film, landscapes and vistas are limited to long stretches of seas and beaches.

Music is sparse too, there's a haunting recurring theme that plays during decades, and emphasizes the long time span of the story.

Dialogue is minimum , and the film never lingers on a certain time period.

Yet we miss nothing. Womb focuses not on the conversations and events, but rather the emotions the characters go through. What we are left with is a deep morality love story that transcends decades.

Regardless of how you feel about the inevitable outcome, the struggles presented on screen is one of the more complex modern love stories. Its not about Lust, but of how blind we can get in our desires to get our loved ones back.

Its not for everyone though, due to the slow paced nature of the film, the more you give yourself to the film, the more you will get.

Its also not exactly the happiest film made. The depressive tone of the film may be too much for some, but it stays true to itself, and benefits greatly from it.

This paired with the taboo subject material, led with questionable marketing, will probably scare off people, which is a shame, because this is far from the pretentious love story people seem to think it is.

See it if you can, its definitely a hauntingly beautiful film that makes you think long after the credits roll.

P.S, this is my first real review, let me know what you guys think! THANKS!

this is an emotionally and morally complex film.

the setting is bare, the dialog minimal, and all to leave room for the context which is massive.

the isolation serves to preserve the womb till the moment of all release, and therefore the moment of ultimate loss. there are many quiet metaphors in this film.

and it is these quiet choices that show some brilliant forethought on the part of the film-makers. it is brilliant film-making. if you can get past the squirminess of it all. and no doubt some day soon, if science has its way -as it will- this story will come true. just over a hundred years ago most believed that man would never fly.

Films with lingering shots of a beach or a face or a road to me can sometimes come off as pretentious dribble, not the case with Womb, I found this movie to be absolutely stunning. There's no other word for it, some people would easily find this movie to be boring due to the extremely slow pace and lack of dialogue, but in my opinion that all just adds to the atmosphere that the director was trying to create.

There is no way at all to tell what year this film is set but I'm guessing it would be in the not too distant future, let's face it, the advances in science these days it's not too long before human cloning will be a part of our society. A lot of things I've heard about Womb quite often compare it to Birth, which is a pretty good comparison I think, both films have a lot of similarities. I couldn't help but pick up vibes from another film Never Let Me Go, the controversial subject matter is similar, the underlying sci-fi element, the moral question the viewer faces and the stillness of both films are very much the same.

Eva Green is wonderful to watch, she gives such a wonderfully restrained performance that's it's surprising she didn't get noticed more for her role. Ever since I saw the terrific Cracks a few years ago I look forward to seeing what edgy role she decides to take on next, Matt Smith, who I'm not so familiar with also does a good job. The children at the beginning of the film deserve a mention too, it seems as though child actors are just getting better and better as time goes on.

Certainly not a film for everyone, but for people who like a bit of a discussion after a film it's perfect.

LOVED IT!!!