Clone

Introduction  

Matt Smith has been around a while now, although I only really know him from his current recurring turn as the latest incarnation of the Doctor in Dr Who.  That being the case, I was a little unsure as to how I would view him in this film as a completely different character than I am used to.  

Thomas (Tristan Christopher) and Rebecca (Ruby O. Fee) are young childhood friends who grow up on the coast and grow very close without dropping into boyfriend/girlfriend territory.  At the age of nine, Rebecca has to move to Tokyo with her parents, leaving the ten year old Thomas by himself.   Years later, Rebecca (Eva Green) moves back to the coast after graduating from University and becoming a software engineer, specialising in sonar for underground fuel tanks.  The two quickly reconnect and she discovers that Tommy (Matt Smith) is actually an environmental activist who is planning a disruption at a newly opened DNA cloning facility for pets, this science recently being passed in law.  

On the day of the disruption, Rebecca decides to join Tommy on his big day out, releasing a load of cockroaches into the lab.  Sadly before they get there, Tommy is run over and killed by a car.  Distraught, Rebecca decides the only way to deal with the loss of the love of her life is actually to visit the same facility and clone Tommy's DNA, carrying the child herself and attempting to bring him up.  But to what end?  

Picture  

The cinematography is superb.  Filmed on the Northsea coast of Germany, there are some stunning location shots, both normal framed landscape shots and also overhead birds eye view shots.  

Extras  

Trailer  

Making Of - there seems to be a move away from the more usual EPK Making Of featurettes, replaced with lots of uncommentated shots of the crew in action.  This is one of those but is interspersed with small interview segments from both main characters and the director plus producers.  

Overall  

Clone is quite a disturbing film and more realistically covers virtually the same ground as Arnold Schwarzengger's 90's action flick The 6th Day, but rather more uncomfortably and sedately plus no one is chased or shot and killed several times.    Unlike recent Resistance which went nowhere really during it's sedate and moody pace, Clone allows you to really think about the storyline, where it's going and the moral questions that Rebecca's ongoing actions ask of the viewer.  

First and foremost, just what is Rebecca trying to do in cloning her dead childhood sweetheart?  There's no speeding up technology here, so she has to bring Tommy up as her child, despite the feelings she still has for him.  Tommy the clone obviously has no idea what's going on as he has no memory of his past incarnation and is only aware of Rebecca as his mum and is unaware of just how close their relationship is compared to most parent and siblings.  Then as he grows into the young Tommy that Rebecca came home to, Rebecca must cope with Tommy finding new relationships with girls of his own age and jealousy she feels.  

Eva Green and Matt Smith are very solid leads with Tommy's immature adult really suiting Smith's acting style.  Despite it's science fiction setting, this film doesn't fall into the trappings of more obvious genre films and is treated more as a drama, which it actually is as well as an exploration of the human condition.

Clone can be an uncomfortable watch but is also a very rewarding film that does really make you think. Not for everyone but a good film nonetheless…