Womb (2010)

(Video on-demand, April 2013) Well, that was uncomfortable.  Some subject matters are almost entirely laugh-free, and a woman raising her dead lover’s clone as her son, with all psycho-sexual complication that entails, ranks way up there on the list of films that are as entertainment-free as possible.  It certainly doesn’t help that the film almost entirely takes place on a cold, windy, damp beach location that practically seeps through the screen to chill audiences.  Eva Green is superb in the role of a woman so consumed by grief that she ends up blurring the lines between mother and lover –the film takes a long time to get to a conclusion, but it’s as uncomfortable as it’s inevitable.  Fortunately, Womb has a bit more than discomfort to offer audiences: as a low-key emotional exploration of science-fictional concepts, it’s not dissimilar to Never Let Me Go (down to the damp beach locations), and the question it raises almost excuse the interminable time it takes to get there.  It’s not as much of a slam to say that I never intend to watch this film again: it fulfills its objectives, and none of those objectives are about repeated viewings or even simple entertainment.  While a better, more accessible film could have been made from the same elements, Womb isn’t without merits, even if it ends up being as uncomfortable to watch as Splice was.