Whichever way you want to look at Benedek Fliegauf’s new film – whether as an engulfing story of love trying to beat death, a sci-fi speculation on clones in human society or a cautionary Oedipal tale –
there is one aspect of it that no one will deny: this is one of the most spectacularly handsome films of the year, confirming Fliegauf’s already established reputation as a world-class aesthete.
Rebecca (Eva Green) resorts to cloning in order to produce for herself a copy of Thomas (Matt Smith), the man she has loved and lost. Once she gives birth she selfishly tries to keep the new Thomas, an exact copy of the departed one, only for herself, which works fine as long as he is a child. But once he grows into a young adult, she inevitably has to face the fact that her total dedication to him takes on dimensions that are not necessarily maternal.
Green conveys every bit of the stubborn obsessive passion driving her to confront nature, and Lesley Manville strikes an impressive pose as Thomas’ original mother, profoundly troubled at the sight of the perfect copy of her dead son. It is a disturbing proposition indeed. - Dan Fainaru, Screen International