BABYCALL

After a lengthy absence of six years, Norwegian director Pal Sletaune finally returns to the big screen with his brand new psychological thriller “Babycall”.  Being a fan of Sletaune’s previous films, “Junk Mail” and especially “Next Door”, I was eagerly anticipating his new film and that anticipation increased greatly when he cast the brilliant star of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, Noomi Rapace, in the lead role.  However the viewing experience of “Babycall” ultimately turned out to be a frustrating one because while a large number of the elements that make up the film are indeed cool and entertaining in and of themselves, when viewed as a whole, the film just does not work.  This is a shame because I feel if more time was spent on the story, working out all of the little details so they integrate together seamlessly, Sletuane would have had something special.  At the end of the day though, “Babycall” must be viewed as an entertaining failure.

The film is about a young mother named Anna (played by Rapace) who, along with her eight year old son Anders, is moving into a new flat.  Anna is incredibly over-protective of her son to the point that she refuses to let him sleep in his own room and makes him sleep with her, just so she knows where he is and that he is alright.  It is obvious to see that Anna is emotionally fragile and appears to be in a state of constant anxiousness.  The reason for this is because her ex-husband and Anders’s father was an incredibly violent and abusive man (to both Anna and Anders).  In fact the reason for the move to this new place is a bid to get away from him forever, however he is now attempting to gain custody of Anders, with his defense being that Anna was the only witness to this so-called abuse and that it is actually her that is mentally unstable.  Understandably, Anna is on edge the whole time and the atmosphere is always tense.  Social workers who are helping Anna soon explain that her over-protectiveness may be to her detriment in court, so because of this Anna slowly starts letting go, and decides to let her son sleep in his own bed.  However, she decides to buy a baby monitor so she will still be able to hear Anders and continue to know he is alright.

When buying the monitor at the local electronics store, Anna meets Helge, an employee of the store.  Surprisingly, the two of them spark up a friendship and they end up going to a nearby coffee shop when Helge mentions that he saw Anna here the day before.  Anna explains that this is impossible because until today she had never been to this coffee shop, however Helge is certain it was her.  When she gets home, Anna sets up the baby monitor and for the first night in ages she has a good night’s sleep.  However on the following night, she is awakened by what she thinks are the screams of her son.  She rushes to his room to investigate only to discover that he is sleeping soundly in his bed.  She then realizes that the scream must be coming from another monitor that is sharing the same frequency.  What terrifies Anna is that this was no ordinary scream from a child, it was blood-curdling and violent.  Has Anna been a witness to the murder of a small child?  This is just one of many mysteries of “Babycall” as from here on in, a lot of strange things begin to happen and more questions are raised.  Where do Anders’s bruises keep coming from?  What is up with Anders’s strange school friend?  What does a near-by lake have to do with everything?  Did Anna really hear a murder or is she insane, seeing and hearing things?  By the end of “Babycall” all of these things are explained.

Anchoring the movie is the very good central performance by Noomi Rapace as Anna.  Rapace does a stellar job at depicting this very fragile woman damaged by her past.  While it does sound similar to her Lisbeth character from “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, the two couldn’t be further apart.  While Lisbeth refused to see herself as a victim and often fought against her past, appearing very tough and in control, Anna is the complete opposite.  She struggles dealing with her past and appears beaten by the things done to her, to the point that she has forgotten how to live a normal life, or worse that she doesn’t want to live a normal life.  You get the feeling that if it wasn’t for Anders, she would no longer be alive.  In fact it is fair to say that she doesn’t live anyway in her current state, she simply exists (almost in a trance-like state), and due to her over-protectiveness, she is forcing the same fate onto her son.

There appears to be a glimmer of hope when Helge makes a minor breakthrough with Anna and the two begin a friendship.  Helge is played by Kristoffer Joner, who was the star of Pal Sletaune’s previous film, and he is also very good in this role.  Like Anna, Helge is struggling emotionally as his mother is stuck in a hospital, close to death, and it is up to him whether or not to turn off her life support machine.  It is also hinted at that he too has suffered abuse in the past (maybe from his mother), and this is further brought to the surface after he meets Anna’s son and converses with him.  So at the point of time when the film takes place, for both of these damaged characters, although they may not have been actively searching for a friendship, it is something they both desperately need.

As I mentioned earlier, “Babycall” has a lot of good parts to it, but when you put them all together, the film falls apart.  A prime example of this is the murder that Anna may or may not have heard on the baby monitor.  This is a great and genuinely creepy idea, but it is never explored properly or fleshed out and it actually plays like a subplot, which would have been fine if the main plot worked.  Personally, the most interesting aspect of “Babycall” should have been Anna’s mental disintegration, whether or not she is indeed mad, but even this is handled poorly.  This actually comes as a shock because Sletaune’s previous film “Next Door” dealt with similar themes brilliantly.  It is just not as interesting as it should be and when revelations start to begin, the whole thing never rings true.  It seems to lack focus, it appears all over the place, and the addition of a small supernatural element late in the film, was a massive misstep and makes a lot of what has come before it almost nonsensical.

Another thing I didn’t like about the film was that it was ugly to look at.  The production design was drab and the very plain clothes they dressed Rapace in were just awful, and it looked like they filmed a rehearsal instead of the real thing.

Overall, while the film is certainly not bad (in fact it is quite interesting in parts), it is definitely a disappointment and must be seen as a failure.  I just wish more time had been spent on fleshing out the story properly because I feel Pal Sletaune had the elements to make something special, as it is, it is a missed opportunity.

3 Stars.