Womb

Womb deals with the controversial topic of human cloning and the bond between mother and son, who is much more than her offspring. As far as the premise is concerned, apart from the somewhat flatter ending, I have absolutely nothing to fault. The cinematography is absolutely stunning, especially when the action shifts to the shack on the beach. Plus, everything in the film has an awfully cold feel to it that gives you the chills. Eva Green's performance is very good, but I wasn't so happy with Tommy, but that's just my opinion. In short, a more modest drama that is pulled forward mainly thanks to Green, the themes, the cinematography and the production design. (08/09/2011)

Womb is one of those films that feels like it's set in a vague, distant time and place, filled with thought-provoking ideas that really hit you, especially toward the end. Eva Green is, once again, absolutely mesmerizing. I’m always fascinated by the characters she chooses to play, and in this one, her gaze is almost hypnotic. It’s the kind of film that’s visually captivating, even though the story is often an emotional rollercoaster for the characters. It’s a strange, unsettling experience, but definitely worth watching if you're in the mood for something that makes you think long after it’s over. While the artistic tone can feel slow at times, the stunning cinematography beautifully captures the mood and setting, making the whole thing feel hauntingly surreal. (29/06/2012)

Very disconcerted impressions. On the one hand, Benedek Flieghauf's visually robust and meditative style, supported by a beautiful camera and an almost Bergmanian timelessness, but on the other hand the need to construct a hypothetical situation and a kind of "über" Freudian paradox in which the symbolic duplication of mother-mistress becomes a biological reality. There may be a fundamental problem in this hypotheticality - although the director admits a fascination with genetic determinism, the only person who could adequately judge this film is a psychoanalyst. It's simply more symbolic than a "hard-core scientific" portrayal of a fantasy about a mother who is not bound by impenetrable taboos. There are a lot of well-constructed situations in Womb, but on the other hand I see a great tension between Fliegauf's "cold observer" method and the commentator involved. It seemed to me that no one on set (understandably) knew what to make of the characters’ story and relationships - it's so extremely complex and speculative that the whole film nested on a very unstable subsoil of a mix of drama, a romantic film and a fairy tale. As a result, the overwhelming sense of focus I felt watching Dealer faded away when I watched this film, and sometimes the impression of brilliantly filmed sexlessness creeps into it. (10/08/2011)

The film Womb has an excellent concept. We're in some unspecified future, perhaps present, and a young woman decides to have a clone of her deceased lover grown in her womb. This is a topic that could have sparked a lot because it's moral madness, but unfortunately, very little was extracted from it. (30/06/2017)