OK so I guess the whole point of the movie was to be disturbing, maybe to raise question about genetic manipulation, cloning, etc, ie just where to draw the line.
The movie is definitely memorable, similar in concept to Birth, and I definitely respect it as a piece of art/film, but there are few lingering things that leave me not particularly enjoying the movie. It's definitely not something I'd watch again. It also reminds me of the trite European sci-fi drama crap with Kirsten Dunst called "Melancholia". Both movies had a sci-fi element, both were minimal in dialogue, both took place remotely and in isolated circumstances, both were crap.
1) The biggest blunder/frustration I have is that if you can get a live sample of DNA from a dead body, why couldn't the hospital just have gotten a live sample of the man's sperm (sperm can survive for several days in the right environment, and longer, if frozen), so the main character could have a legitimate baby and not just some weird clone? I don't care how disturbed, possessive, isolated, smothering of a person you are, who in their right mind would choose to raise their former lover from birth and then think anything good (non-controversial) could come from that once they are grown up? I understand a lot of the movie's premise/controversy/purpose would be moot if there was no cloning involved.
There's something definitely mentally disturbing/ill about the decisions of the main character. Who would be so stuck in the past, deliberately trying to somehow 'prevent' the past from happening, by letting it play out all over again? Who in their right mind would not at least TRY to move on, move away, live a new life, be around people, etc? It seems obsessive, possessive, selfish, and mentally disturbing.
2) What's with the sex scene at the end? I totally understand the moments of sexual attraction/arousal by the mother, but why wouldn't the son be completely repulsed at the mother? So despite a life-time of being used to being around a woman as his 'mother', he suddenly becomes perversely attracted to her in an instant of emotional change just because he realizes he's a clone of her past lover and not the child of this woman?
3) I think I spent more time annoyed/disturbed at why it looked like Tommy had no eyebrows (and why his eyes looked so close together, compared to the little child). Comparing the little red-headed child and the adult, I think the adult Tommy was cast all wrong.
4) I am getting tired at watching movies of the beautiful Eva Green playing quiet and disturbed individuals. I enjoyed her in Casino Royale, playing James Bond's love that broke his heart. I'd like to see her in a movie that is more positive/up-beat, maybe something more of a rom-com than a plain drama.
5) The location of the film (isolated beach town) seems to fit the mood of possessiveness, isolation, emotional disturbedness, etc but I wonder how the film could have developed more depth, life, meaning, etc in a place with more people, characters, life, etc. The idea of living a life in isolation out of some self-interested purpose really just makes me miserable. The idea of living alone, purposely, scares me.
6) The feeling I am left with at the end of the movie is more of being disturbed emotionally than anything else. Maybe that's the point, but I would have hoped (somehow) for more of a sense of redemption, hope, something positive. There is a certain superficiality to that, and very American, and I guess that's just not the European way in film.
The movie is definitely memorable, similar in concept to Birth, and I definitely respect it as a piece of art/film, but there are few lingering things that leave me not particularly enjoying the movie. It's definitely not something I'd watch again. It also reminds me of the trite European sci-fi drama crap with Kirsten Dunst called "Melancholia". Both movies had a sci-fi element, both were minimal in dialogue, both took place remotely and in isolated circumstances, both were crap.
1) The biggest blunder/frustration I have is that if you can get a live sample of DNA from a dead body, why couldn't the hospital just have gotten a live sample of the man's sperm (sperm can survive for several days in the right environment, and longer, if frozen), so the main character could have a legitimate baby and not just some weird clone? I don't care how disturbed, possessive, isolated, smothering of a person you are, who in their right mind would choose to raise their former lover from birth and then think anything good (non-controversial) could come from that once they are grown up? I understand a lot of the movie's premise/controversy/purpose would be moot if there was no cloning involved.
There's something definitely mentally disturbing/ill about the decisions of the main character. Who would be so stuck in the past, deliberately trying to somehow 'prevent' the past from happening, by letting it play out all over again? Who in their right mind would not at least TRY to move on, move away, live a new life, be around people, etc? It seems obsessive, possessive, selfish, and mentally disturbing.
2) What's with the sex scene at the end? I totally understand the moments of sexual attraction/arousal by the mother, but why wouldn't the son be completely repulsed at the mother? So despite a life-time of being used to being around a woman as his 'mother', he suddenly becomes perversely attracted to her in an instant of emotional change just because he realizes he's a clone of her past lover and not the child of this woman?
3) I think I spent more time annoyed/disturbed at why it looked like Tommy had no eyebrows (and why his eyes looked so close together, compared to the little child). Comparing the little red-headed child and the adult, I think the adult Tommy was cast all wrong.
4) I am getting tired at watching movies of the beautiful Eva Green playing quiet and disturbed individuals. I enjoyed her in Casino Royale, playing James Bond's love that broke his heart. I'd like to see her in a movie that is more positive/up-beat, maybe something more of a rom-com than a plain drama.
5) The location of the film (isolated beach town) seems to fit the mood of possessiveness, isolation, emotional disturbedness, etc but I wonder how the film could have developed more depth, life, meaning, etc in a place with more people, characters, life, etc. The idea of living a life in isolation out of some self-interested purpose really just makes me miserable. The idea of living alone, purposely, scares me.
6) The feeling I am left with at the end of the movie is more of being disturbed emotionally than anything else. Maybe that's the point, but I would have hoped (somehow) for more of a sense of redemption, hope, something positive. There is a certain superficiality to that, and very American, and I guess that's just not the European way in film.