A plea for someone to answer my questions--

you should just watch it with subs, they are on sites like opensubtitles and subscene.

Kaspar had no clue what was going on, he wanted to call Elena's parents and hated the baby after it was born. he complained it made a clicking noise and acted as though he didnt think it was human. no-one ever explained what shelley was, or if the mother was human either actually.

The last visit with the healer -- Louise tells him that Kasper has been distant and strange since the baby was born, not sleeping and doesn't hold the child. The healer says nothing significant, just looks at the baby and then leaves.

Kaspar complains a few times how he can't sleep with the baby making "that sound", which Louise can't hear. That's pretty much the extent of it. At the end, when he's leaving in the car, it's just "Stop, don't leave, give me the baby" etc. Nothing revealing.

The doctor just says normal doctor things like "You're fine, Elena, nothing is wrong, the baby is healthy, it's perfectly normal to feel tired and have irritated skin." It doesn't actually seem like she has any idea about the real nature of the baby.

None of the dialogue answers any questions arising during the film. The film could be silent and effectively tell the same story. I liked the atmosphere of dread -- I thought it was well done -- but I think choosing to be vague and not commit to a narrative was a real weakness of the film, and will make most people feel like they wasted their time.

I felt they were giving the impression that she'd actually given birth to herself.
If that's the case, they could have done a much better job at telling the story, without spelling it all out.

I think that there was nothing evil at all. I think it was the primitive conditions and their holistic beliefs that breed this possible outcome in Elena's condition. I think she was suffering from toxoplasmosis that she contracted from the couple or/and the chickens and chicken feces. You don't let pregnant women handle changing out litter boxes for cats, so I wouldn't' think a chicken coup would be advised.

In 2003, E. Fuller Torrey of the Stanley Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland his colleagues noted a link between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia – specifically, that women with high levels of the parasite were more likely to give birth to schizophrenics-to-be. The hypothesis given for this phenomenon is that while for most people who are infected, Toxoplasma has minor effects, for some, the changes are much more pronounced.

Continuing to work with mental patients, scientists later discovered a link between suicide and parasite infection. But, of course, this link was in people who already have mental illness.

We know some women go through a psychosis during their pregnancy or after it. Could be the normal hormonal psychosis mixed with Taxoplasma, mixed with the DNA compatible of the natural parents created a toxic cocktail because the wife and husband might already been carriers of the parasite. You can live with it in some cases but usually their is a higher ratio of urinary tract infections.

I think a lot of what happened after Shelly was born was due to guilt and was it worth it? People who live so simplistic chose to for their mental health is the impression give. They tend to believe everything happens because God has a purpose. Them not being able to have children there was a reason. Not many more stressful things then having children.

Elena getting ill and dying probably felt like a punishment to him. The child became the angst in his mind for their presumed selfishness. He felt guilt at putting his wife's desire to have a child above what was meant to be. I think the wife always suffered mentally from not being able to have the one thing she wanted most and it was why they moved their away from all the necessities of life in the first place. The reason he must have felt "Help" Elena was needed, because why when his wife didn't work and they had no children she needed help?

This is just my take, of course.

Confusing as this movie legitimately is, I really have not a clue why you would watch it without subtitles and then make THAT into the mystery.

There are fully subtitled versions online. The dialogue wasn't MEANT to be a mystery. It was just regular dialogue and it gave nothing away about what was happening at all. Why on earth confuse yourself even more by watching it unsubtitled and then asking other people to tell you what happened?

Film os now on Netflix, and subtitled, for the record.

I did enjoy the mood, the quiet intensity. I think that much like the Babadook, this is a surrealist drama on motherhood masquerading as horror.

Which doesn't mean that the horror elements weren't
delightful, because they were. I just think the film makes more sense outside of typical genre conventions.

Clearly you didn't watch the movie at all...

I would recommend that you watch "Rosemary's Baby". Very similar plot.