Womb (2010)

A woman's consuming love forces her to bear the clone of her dead beloved. From his infancy to manhood, she faces the unavoidable complexities of her controversial decision.

Director:

Benedek Fliegauf

Writer:

Benedek Fliegauf

Stars:

Eva Green, Matt Smith, Lesley Manville

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eva Green	...	Rebecca
Matt Smith	...	Thomas
Lesley Manville	...	Judith / Thomas' mother
Peter Wight	...	Ralph / Thomas' father
István Lénárt	...	Henry / Rebecca's grandfather
Hannah Murray	...	Monica / Thomas' girlfriend
Ruby O. Fee	...	Rebecca / 9 years
Tristan Christopher	...	Thomas / 10 years
Jesse Hoffmann	...	Thomas / 5 years
Natalia Tena	...	Rose / Thomas' girlfriend
Ella Smith	...	Molly
Wunmi Mosaku	...	Erica
Alexander Goeller	...	Marc
Gina Stiebitz	...	Dima
Adrian Wahlen	...	Eric / Young Thomas' friend

Storyline

A woman's consuming love forces her to bear the clone of her dead beloved. From his infancy to manhood, she faces the unavoidable complexities of her controversial decision.

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Plot Keywords:

love | women's rights | woman's freedom | reproductive control | skinny dipping | 

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Taglines:

What are the consequences of giving birth to your dead boyfriend?

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany] Official site [Hungary]

Country:

Germany Hungary France

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 April 2011 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Womb

Filming Locations:

Hallig Langeneß, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

€3,660,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Razor Film Produktion GmbH, Inforg Stúdió, Asap Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The theme of this film is closely related to Sigmund Freud's famous theory of the 'Oedipus Complex', which states that there is an unconscious wish for a son to have sex with his mother. He also described the 'Electra Complex' which was the equivalent for females. A similar theme was explored in the 1974 movie 'The Savage is Loose'.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Rebecca: It's over. I will always speak to you. And I don't mind if you don't say anything. Just because you went away, it doesn't mean you're not here anymore. Perhaps all I ever needed was this gift.
[rubbing her belly]
Rebecca: The one you gave to me at the end

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Crazy Credits

The ending credits scroll from top to bottom instead of usually bottom to top.

User Reviews

A Delicate portrait of loneliness and lost love.

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!