Love and cloning in Fliegauf’s Womb

by Fabien Lemercier

02/04/2009 - Having kicked off on March 10, shooting on Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf’s first English-language film, Womb, is in full swing on the German island of Sylt.

The film – which centres on an intensely close relationship whose aim is to defeat death at all costs – stars French actress Eva Green (Casino Royale [trailer]), the UK’s Matt Smith, fellow British actress Lesley Manville (All or Nothing [trailer]) and Hungary’s István Lénárt (The Man from London [trailer]).

Penned by the director and set in the near future, the film revolves around childhood sweethearts Rebecca and Thomas, who go their separate ways in life before being reunited as students. They engage in a passionate love affair which is shattered when Thomas dies in a car accident.

Unable to accept this blow dealt by fate, Rebecca fights to have him cloned and carry him inside her. A new Thomas is born and Rebecca thinks that everything can return to the way it was, but nothing unfolds as expected.

Fliegauf (34) first came to attention in 2003 in the Berlinale Forum with his debut feature Forest, before going on to direct the multiple award-winning Dealer (2004) and the experimental film Milky Way (which won the Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present section at Locarno in 2007).

Produced by Hungary’s Inforg Studio, Germany’s Razor Film, French company A.S.A.P Films and ZDF/ Arte, Womb has a budget of around €3.1m. This includes €440,000 from Eurimages as well as backing from the Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the FFA and the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary.

The scheduled seven-week shoot will last until April 29. The project won the 2008 ScripTeast Award and was selected for last year’s Cannes Festival Workshop. International sales are being handled by The Match Factory.

(Translated from French)