Day 67: Womb

Returning 12 years after they first met, Rebecca (Eva Green) and Tommy (Matt Smith), are together for only a short time before he dies in a car accident. Rather than deal with her grief in a healthy way, she has him cloned and she gives birth to him, then raises him as her son.

I went into this film knowing what was going to happen and yet I still felt massively uncomfortable. They didn’t know each other for very long when they were children and she left for 12 years, and when she came back they only knew each other for maybe a week or something. I understand the feelings you have for someone as a child can be overwhelming but you don’t know him now, you’ll both have changed. We’re meant to get that they’re soul mates so fine, you don’t have to have spent that much time with him, ok. I will buy into that idea. But did nobody at this cloning clinic give you a psychological exam? Maybe look into how unhealthy it would be to give birth and then raise the man you were in love with? No? Right.

The whole time she’s raising him you are just waiting for her to be inappropriate. At one point when he’s about 10, he pins her to the ground and says “Now I can do whatever I want with you.” and they look like they’re going to kiss. It’s so uncomfortable. I’m not really sure what she thought was going to happen, she was going to raise him and then when he was an adult they could get together again? I don’t understand. Their whole relationship is strange and awkward. Then she finally shows him who he was and they have sex. Then he leaves. So, she’s lost both of them, and one of them she had to raise for 20-odd years. I’m just not sure what she expected to happen, really.

It is the most excruciatingly slow film. I was bored and uncomfortable for the majority of the film, which is not a good combination. The story is definitely interesting but the film itself is just not done very well.

4/10

Day 16: Mrs Henderson Presents

I decided that since my blogs were become more and more mopey I should perhaps watch something light, to brighten my mood. Which led me to this film but obviously I didn’t read what it was about and it turned out to not be as light as I had imagined. Mrs Henderson (Dame Judi Dench) loses her husband and decides that in order to avoid boredom she will buy a theatre. She does exactly that and with Vivian Van Damm’s (Bob Hoskins) help her theatre becomes a hit. In order to draw in the crowds she proposes that the women are naked through the shows. This obviously works and her shows are a constant sell-out. This happens with the Blitz occurring which adds quite a sombre note to it all.

As I said, I was looking for a light film that wouldn’t require much thought. The film opened on a funeral, however, so I clearly made a mistake. The funeral was closely followed by Judi Dench sobbing on a boat in the middle of a river. She is quite the actress, the minute her voice cracks at different points in the film I just burst into tears. And I don’t use the word often enough but she was perfectly feisty almost the entire way through.

I don’t have too much to say about the film itself. It did manage to stay quite light-hearted despite what was happening around them and that was great. I would say though, I was not quite ready to see Bob Hoskins’ penis. It just completely took me by surprise and I feel I should warn you, if you choose to watch it.

7/10

Day 13: About A Boy

Will (Hugh Grant) has a fairly hassle free life; he doesn’t work or have anyone dependent on him so he lives off the money his father made and just does what he wants with his time. But then he meets Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) and it forces him to re-evaluate his life.

I’m not a big fan of the whole ‘if you don’t have a family you’re hopeless’ thing. Having people who depend on you doesn’t make you into this rich tapestry of a person. You’re just someone who has to do things for other people now, not just yourself. And I realise that could bring with it some good alterations in values and whatnot but it still doesn’t gel with me. All through the film Will is berated for not having a family or even a long term relationship because it somehow makes him less of a person. Having relationships with people (in any context) doesn’t raise you above those who are content to not invest their time and emotions in others. It constantly crops up in the film that nothing he does “means anything” because of how he chooses to live his life. So ridiculous! Why does having people in your life make it mean anything? If your worth as a human being is summed up in the relationships you have with other people then that just makes me sad. Apparently you can’t be great and worthwhile all on your own, you have to involve others otherwise it doesn’t mean anything. You’ve got to be comfortable alone before you can be comfortable with others, I’ve always thought.

Another thing that bothers me is the association between not working and doing nothing with your life. Having a job does not make you better than those who do not (voluntarily or not). Your worth as a person is not reflected in your job. Christ, most people hate their jobs. I hate that when you meet a new person one of the first things they ask is “What do you do?” What I do to make money has no bearing on me as a person. I wish people would ask things that meant something; what are you scared of? What makes you laugh like crazy? What gets you through the day? What you do to make money is so low down on the list of things I want to know about you that it’s not even worth bothering with. In the film as soon as people hear Will “does nothing” then they make completely unnecessary judgements; one calls him “a blank”. Yes, he doesn’t work so it’s not worth knowing him. No wonder the unemployed feel dehumanised.

Despite all this I do enjoy the film. I quite like Hugh Grant, for reasons that aren’t completely clear to me. Toni Collette is wonderful always. I forgot Rachel Weisz was in this film but what a wonderful surprise, she is fantastic too. Good film.

7/10