Womb

This movie delivers everything I seek in cinema: Entrancing cinematography, engaging direction, stirring of emotions and challenging themes. It's beautiful, intense and had me engrossed throughout. The cold, stark and stunning set locations are as much a part of the story telling as the dialogue is, serving to enrich the feelings and situations conveyed by the characters. It is a quiet film filled with visual beauty and soul. This is one of those rare movies that pulls you into another world, one which lingers and haunts you long after the movie has ended. I watched this film yesterday and am already wanting to revisit it.

Certain scenes made me feel uneasy, but rightfully so, given the subject matter. The sensitive story-line is conveyed well by all involved, enabling the viewer to empathise with both of the main characters rather than feeling alienated from them, which was a possibility with such a story-line. I think it was a clever move to not linger upon or delve much into the complexities of the actual cloning process and instead focus on the lives and emotions of the characters before and after that event. The film would have benefited from further developing the love formed between the two main characters as children so as we can better appreciate the intensity of their feelings when they meet again as adults. The director has said that they spent the whole summer together as children, yet this is not evident in the film. Still, I don't believe the movie suffered from this lapse as the acting by Eva Green is strong enough to convey her character's intensity and give reason to the choices she made.

The topic of human cloning is a controversial and complex one and in this day and age is not as much science-fiction as it is a genuine possibility in our future. A fictional, two hour film cannot hope to provide any real answer to any of the concerns posed by such a topic, but what this film manages to do is take on some emotional aspects of the topic and turn them into a haunting and thoughtful work of art. 9/10.

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.

This movie is not for those who are looking for action or for a fast paced movie. The movie takes you to the very beginning and takes it's time to build the relationships that will eventually be the cause for the controversial decision made by the main character. There is one scene that happens so suddenly and it is this event that brings about the controversial issue in this film. The acting is done really well by the few characters that we see, they seem immersed in the situation, filled with as much emotion as you would expect. The second half of the movie will have you debating with others and yourself on what stance you would take. And perhaps as you're watching the movie you have an idea of what the outcome will be, but the movie engages you to keep watching to see how it all plays out in this unique situation that we're presented with.

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.

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!