An Orwellian whorl of a film that’s unsettling and original
FILM
CLONE
Cert: 15
****
Matt Smith, who plays Clone’s hero Tommy, is kinda handsome in a kooky way. More Easter Island statue than Michelangelo’s David. People fancy him, but they’re not sure why. It probably accounts for why his CV beyond Doctor Who is sparse to say the least. You feel he is going to be lumbered with off-kilter roles in sci-fi movies. On the strength of Clone, that’s no bad thing.
It’s a tough movie to categorise – a distinctly Orwellian whorl that purveys detailed character study and plenty of lingering art-house shots of windy beaches and stormy seas. The closest comparison I can muster is Keira Knightly and Andrew Garfield film Never Let Me Go, and that’s more an overlap in style than plot.
The gist of it is that Eva Green’s Rebecca falls in love with her
childhood sweet-heart Tommy after returning from an extended stint in Japan. Somewhat inevitably, tragedy befalls the star-crossed lovers, to which Rebecca’s response is to impregnate herself with Tommy’s clone – an inspired reaction to a bereavement.
Life isn’t easy for clones – or copies, which is how they are referred to – and Tommy’s second life is a maelstrom of oedipal desires. Don’t walk into this expecting a suspenseful thriller – is’s more like a sexually uncomfortable picture postcard. But a good one at that.