Womb – A Romance, Sci-Fi Thriller on Netflix

Posted 10 years ago by myetvmedia

Shown at TIFF 2010 and now on Netflix, “Womb” is a romance/ sci-fi thriller starring the beautiful, enigmatic Eva Green. It is an emotionally riveting film, with spectacular cinematography and a thought provoking story bound to raise controversy. We recommend this one.

“Womb”, Hungarian writer-director Benedek Fliegauf’s fourth feature film, is a sci-fi, fairy tale romance with a fascinating twist. It’s easy to categorize “Womb” as a movie about incest and the dark pursuit of Oedipal fantasies. Rebecca (Eva Green, Casino Royale, Cracks), gives birth to the clone of her dead lover Tommy, raises him as her son, and copes with the inevitable storm of passion, confusion and existential darkness that follows. Fliegauf raises difficult questions that will provoke timely debate in our new age of ‘in vitro’ pregnancy and future cloning possibilities.

Human clones are medically possible in this futuristic world but what they represent is still socially taboo. The “copies” are morally repugnant, shunned by schoolboys and parents and referred to at one point as the “victims of artificial incest.” “I was interested in exploring this (artificial incest) question, not just because of the philosophical part,” Fliegaulf says. “But because I also think it’s going to really happen.”

At times the erotic tension is enough to pull you out of your seat – reminding us of the powerful, transcendent repulsion of our instincts. Levi-Strauss famously theorized that incest was the one true taboo shared by all societies, regardless of history or morals.

The movie opens with a pregnant adult Rebecca contemplating the child growing inside her. The story flashes back to when a young Rebecca, (Ruby O. Fee) and Tommy, (Tristan Christopher) meet as childhood friends and become soul mates. The fairy tale comes to an end when Rebecca is forced to move away to Tokyo. For the goodbye, Tommy gives her a kiss of passion straight out of Casablanca. So out of place with the characters’ age is this perfect-parody smooch that it jabs at our popular perceptions of what love is.

Twelve years later beautiful (Eva Green) Rebecca returns and tracks down Tommy (Matt Smith). Their romance is rekindled but comes to a brutal halt with Tommy’s death in a freak accident. Rebecca consumed by her love for Tommy makes the desperate decision to bear his clone.

Despite its being set in the future, the story is very contemporary. Filmed on a stretch of windy, snow-swept beach in Germany, the setting feels timeless. The ocean serves as a stunning visual representation of the ‘womb motif’. The lines of the film draw us to an inevitable, cringe-inducing climax. Passion unbound.

Tobin Dalrymple

Subscribe to
Our Youtube
Subscribe to
our RSS

ETV Newsletter

Get the latest on the media landscape and the minds that create inspiring, paradigm-shifting ideas. Sign up and stay in the loop.

Follow Us
On Twitter
Visit Our
Facebook
View Our
Flickr Stream
View Our
Vimeo Stream
View Us On
Pinterest

Advertise with Us

close