Womb - 2010

Director: Benedek Fliegauf

Writer: Benedek Fliegauf

Cast: Matt Smith (Thomas), Eva Green (Rebecca), Lesley Manville (Judith), Peter Wright (Ralph), Istvan Lenart (Henry), Hannah Murray (Monica).

The vague but direct intentions of this film are that “A woman’s consuming love forces her to bear the clone of her dead beloved. From infancy to manhood, she faces the unavoidable complexities of her controversial decision.

Review: Trying hard to put aside Matt Smith’s previous characterisation as “The Doctor” in BBC1′s ‘Doctor Who’ I found this film interesting, but at the same time a little bit perturbing also. Yes, it depicts the life of Thomas, and yes, it visually maps out the innocent relationship between him and his young female friend Rebecca in such a way that some would consider ‘Risky’ at the best of times. The “Never been kissed” element to both Tom & Rebecca’s story fuels the concern up until the very moment when she leaves for a new life in Japan with her Mother.

When, some twelve years later Rebecca returns from a life in Tokyo with her Mother, they suddenly leap into a kind of insufficient climate of acting. Thomas is now seen as this young man who seems slow of knowledge, until suddenly a break in the scenes immediately bring him to life with a sudden infusion of intellectual knowledge on Biology. The afore behaviour of Tom has the hallmark of a “Sheltered Upbringing”, while his sudden alone time with Rebecca sparks the in-character of The Doctor, with his overall performance clashing in both persona and habit of his previous character.

Throughout the film the lack of dialogue seems to made up of – dare I say it – those silent metaphors and innuendos that last a week spinning around your head until finally realisation kicks in with a “So that’s what they were trying to say”. In contrast to the locations the feeling and outreach of these characters is so easy to be go along with as is the attitudes of the other residents, though the end plot may not be appealing to some viewers it is a matter of understanding and not that of what is right and what is wrong. For me personally “Womb” was a piece of work presented to the audience as a “First Cut”, that maybe should have been within a category of “New Director” and certainly in a placement where the genre would be “Sci-Fi/Drama”, too. One thing that is for sure from this film is that I could never look upon Matt Smith in his role as a Time Lord without the remembrance of this film fleeting past my eyes.

DVD Archive Rating: 7/10

Budget: €3,100,000 (Estimated)

AKA: Womb – Meh

Runtime: 111 minutes (Uncut Version)

© Marcus De Storm 2011

Womb (Official Trailer)