A film by Johanna Moder
With: Marie Leuenberger, Hans Löw, Claes Bang, Julia Franz Richter, Nina Fog, Tchuci, Judith Altenberger, Caroline Frank, Greta Stranka, Selina Ströbele
Forty-year-old Julia, a successful conductor, and her partner Georg are longing for a child when Dr. Vilfort, a fertility specialist with a private clinic, offers them hope with an experimental procedure. Julia becomes pregnant after successful treatment at the clinic. However, the birth does not go as planned and the baby is immediately taken away for additional treatment, leaving Julia and her husband in the dark about what has happened. When Julia is finally reunited with the child, she feels strangely distant. The baby’s presence puts a strain on their marriage as it becomes clear that Julia has doubts about whether the baby they have brought home is really hers
Our rate: **
Using the baby blues as a pretext for questioning gaslighting, we wonder for a moment whether this baby might symbolize the legacy of a generation of parents, and whether a more global allegory lies behind this film, whose atmosphere is rather well crafted, without reaching any great heights (we’re a long way from Rosemary’s Baby, to cite one possible reference). But on closer examination, and with a little hindsight, what are we left with after the screening? A briefly feminist articulation, a rather successful technical exercise, a questioning of the possible excesses of genetic research. A filmic warning, then, nothing much more powerful, gripping or real. In any case, on a very similar subject, we found the exercise more convincing than the A24 production If I had legs I’ll kick you, which is as boring as it gets.
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