MovieChat Forums > Womb (2011) Discussion > Beautifully predictable

Beautifully predictable

posted 13 years ago by ellsswhere
7 replies | jump to latest

I dont really know what to say about this film.
It falls in that same vain as the movie 'Splice' so it comes at the audience with a very controversial script in place. As anyone can guess this movie ends with the inevitable conclusion we all expected and its truly just a waiting game.

Now here is where I have problems.
The film fell victim to (in my opinion) the worst cancer in indie films... that long awkward silence brings some sort of deep meaning to the few words that are spoken. This is almost never true. The entire movies script cant be but 10 pages of text. I get it, the scenes are so dramatic and emotional words would only ruin these moments... right... wrong

The cinematography is beautiful, the actors,the settings and the concept are all in place, however you need proper dialog to tell a story. One of my favorite movies is 'Sunshine' and the long breathtaking shots are accompanied by long sections comprising of little to no dialog. Yet the film balances these moments with action and suspense and inner turmoil. It is pretty much what makes Kubrick films so stunning; cinematography, human emotion and gorgeous use of dialog.

For the first half hour of the movie as they introduce the characters and build the connection between the two main characters, rip them apart, and bring them back together you only hear a few lines and it almost works, almost. Sadly even for a seasoned veteran of lengthy deep movies I found myself bored, just waiting for some true human reactions or interactions between the characters. The attempt to make the characters more 'complex' and 'emotional' made them seem robotic and unable to express any true feelings. I was disappointed that this movie will only become memorable because of the last scene of the movie, which we all saw coming when we read the synopsis.

[–] popidillator 13 years ago

***SPOILERS*** obviously:

I disagree; I think it succeeded exceptionally well in that regard - I'd consider it one of those cases where the minimalist approach DOES work. Largely because the actors carry it so well, especially Eva Green, but also because, as you say, it's such a tragedy in that you can see the whole trajectory but the protagonists can't. It's easy to understand why Rebecca does what she does, and to sympathise with her, but it's also easy to understand why people would be unnerved by the 'copies', and why Thomas would subsequently be so messed up by his upbringing, and the truth. I found knowing all of this, and where it was inevitably headed, allowed each scene to resonate pretty deeply, and didn't require anything extra (in the way of words or otherwise). It also helps that a lot of the dialogue-free shots and sequences worked metaphorically - for instance we didn't need any dialogue between the two boys when they were burying the toy dinosaur, it was pretty clear that they were doing it because to them it was essentially another 'copy', and thus had that stigma attached to it. The end was brilliantly handled too IMO - I'm glad we didn't see Rebecca explain to Thomas the whole truth, but that it's clear to us by his "thankyou..Rebecca" at the end that he finally does come to understand - and appreciate - who she is and what she did. Succinctly done I thought. Obviously I liked the movie quite a lot! loved it, maybe, though I only watched it a few hours ago so I'll see how I feel about it later! For me, what you say of Sunshine (and Kubrick; there's an odd lump-together ;) heh) - "[great] cinematography, human emotion and gorgeous use of dialog," is also true of Womb.

Sunshine fell apart for me when it ditched what it had been doing for the first two thirds or something and tried and failed pretty miserably, I thought, at its action and suspense elements - felt very let down by that movie at the end

[–] nettwench 13 years ago

I agree completely - there is no need for dialog in much of this movie - how could characters express something so psychologically complex, when they are in the middle of experiencing all these subconscious emotions - it would be ridiculous! What dialog there is, is absolutely perfect. The ending line - "Thank you, Rebecca," was really unexpected! Although his life has become suddenly unbelievably painful and confusing, he's still glad he has that life. But I don't see that in any way as justification for what she did! Which is kind of contradictory, I know - that's the brilliance of this movie! When you have an actress as talented as Eva Green, words are so overrated. And the pacing really forces you to become psychologically submerged and not distracted by unnecessary details. The world is a very beautiful place - strange, cold, barren, but beautiful nonetheless. What a setting for a movie - I've never really seen a place quite that isolated and like the end of the earth.

I really think it's ballsy that someone could do a movie paced like this - that just rarely happens anymore, and some movies would be the better for it. We have really lost the art of the contemplative in this society where our attention is fractured into bits and seconds - I really reveled in getting to sink under the weight and beauty of this experience.

But will he now have another little brother/son? Too weird to contemplate!

Ssssshh! You'll wake up the monkey!

[–] chruko 13 years ago

Spoilers
________________

I understand everything from Rebecca's point of view but why in hell would Tommy 2.0 be sexually attracted to her. That part makes absolutely no sense unless you believe that more than his body was copied, perhaps part of his soul too... any thoughts?

[–] rosiemccotton 13 years ago

From the way I understand things, Tommy 2.0 picked up on Rebecca's signals all the way through his childhood. There were loads: Getting under that blanket with him, kissing his neck, always just slightly closer than a mother should be. Then of course theres the pinning scene. All the time when Rebecca was doing these things, she was struggling with herself, trying to give him a normal life to live but at the same time unable to forget the Tommy that he would one day become.

The sexual vibes that she gave off clearly confused Tommy to no end and the ending scene was just the tension breaking.

If you want to look at it biologically, people give off pheromones which make them attractive to people, but to their family members it does the opposite. Something to do with how the pheromones affect similar and different gene patterns. Rebecca and Tommy weren't actually biologically related so that didn't come into effect, so he had not reason NOT to be attracted to her and thus followed the signals she gave.

Obviously it's more complicated than that, but that's how I made sense of it.

.... Still icky though.

I have the power. Yes, the power of oblong...

[–] emptysky 13 years ago

"I understand everything from Rebecca's point of view but why in hell would Tommy 2.0 be sexually attracted to her. That part makes absolutely no sense unless you believe that more than his body was copied, perhaps part of his soul too... any thoughts?"

She didn't act the way a mother normally would act towards her son during his childhood. Didn't you get the creeps when he was hiding under the blanket while he was talking about school, she got under there too right up in his face and stayed there nose to nose? Or when they were naked in the bathtub together as he recited a poem? Another time she was standing behind him and leaned forward to cuddle and kiss him in the way you'd do with a lover, not with a child. To me as a mother, the childhood scenes were almost creepier than the overtly sexual adult stuff. Why wouldn't he be attracted to her? She's basically been putting the moves on him his whole life.

[–] nettwench 13 years ago

Yep - psychological incest, leading up to the actual incest.

Ssssshh! You'll wake up the monkey!

[–] barber2626 12 years ago

This movie is nothing like Splice. This movie is of a perverted female that longed to pervert this child to later be his lover but yet she raised him so its really her son even if there was no DNA of her in him. Its sick. This is not beautiful. And I have to question all these people that keep saying its beautiful. OMG who are you people!