Parenthood. Arguably the most amazing gift one could receive, but the burden of having a child and the feelings experienced in those initial weeks post-delivery are explored in this unsettling new drama from Austrian filmmaker Johanna Moder.
The trials of motherhood have been explored a lot in cinema recently, most notably in the brilliant Amy Adams-led Nightbitch which was released at the tail end of last year. Austrian director Moder’s new film has a similar vibe with the tone bordering on horror as we follow a 40-year-old composer and orchestra conductor Julia (Marie Leuenberger) who, with husband Georg (Hans Löw) have longed for a baby with no success. With time running out, local private clinician Dr. Vilfort (Claes Bang) is their last chance and he confident that there is a 100% chance of them conceiving with his own new revolutionary methods.
Dashing Vilfort works in luxury surroundings, a clinic that can handle all outcomes, around him tanks full of axolotls, an endangered amphibian that has the ability to regenerate limbs, gills, eyes and brains.
We cut forward some time and Julia is full term and in labour, their child just moments away from their arrival into the world. When the baby is finally delivered, it is taken away immediately after some complications, the infant having no contact with its mother or father.
The next day it is confirmed that they have indeed had a son, and they are finally united with the boy following a traumatic night where they have no update of his condition – all they know is that he has experienced respiratory problems and taken to a neonatal clinic nearby. Reunited with their child, Julia and Georg are pleased to return home. Over the days and weeks that follow, Julia struggles to bond with her son which put pressure on her relationship with her husband and others around her. There’s also some rather strange visits from a midwife from the clinic who always arrives with a gift and also, rather strangely, advises against breast feeding and delivers pre-made bottles, despite the child already taking milk from the mother.
Thoughts enter Julia’s head when she notices that the baby never cries, seems immune to pain, and sleeps all day long. She begins to suspect that the young child may not even be theirs – maybe he was switched at birth after being taken away by the doctors? Of course, all of this could be in Julia’s head, the paranoia a symptom of post-natal depression, which is what back-to-work dad Georg seems to keep losing his patience with. But then also, could this be something more sinister?
This has all the echoes of a horror film, which is obviously the intent, but Moder’s new feature is clever at balancing the offers of a genre movie buried deep within a human drama that so many parents can identify with. This is down to the brilliant script, written by Moder with Arne Kohlweyer, suggestions of the macabre littered throughout, but with the filmmaker’s grounded approach bringing us back to reality after every twisted turn, perhaps Julia really just needs to sort her shit out and see a different doctor.
The film also delves into the parental politics of a couple who both have huge careers – who should change at home? Who should be the breadwinner? Where is the balance?
Marie Leuenberger is excellent in the lead as Julia, convincing as this traumatic mother, but also as a highly skilled conductor. Bang is also brilliant as the [perhaps] villainous gynocologist with a penchant for endangered salamanders. It’s all done so skilfully, aided by the beautiful cinematography of Robert Oberrainer – a grainy, muted pallet offers up ’70s European genre feels – and the rousing score by Diego Ramos Rodriguez.
It aims for a barnstormer of an ending, its intentions perhaps a little ambitious and ultimately underwhelming, but this is a film that’ll stay with you for days after viewing, especially with any of us mums and dads. Maybe those about to enter the exciting, anxiety-inducing world of parenthood might want to stay away, though.
Mother’s Baby was reviewed at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival.
Mother’s Baby
Summary
A powerful, well directed and acted drama with suggested horror elements throughout, and the filmmakers skilfully navigate the difficult tonal balance. It does, however, slightly lose its footing during the final act.
