Mad and monstrous motherhood in a feminist take on the Frankenstein myth, with plenty of Cronenbergian body horror.
Pathologist Rose prefers working with corpses over social interaction and is obsessed by the reanimation of the dead. Celie is a maternity nurse whose life collapses after her six-year-old daughter suddenly dies. The two women must decide how far they are willing to go to protect what they hold most dear.
First time director Laura Moss infuses her contemporary take on the Frankenstein myth with a feminist angle and elements of Cronenbergian body horror. The result is smart, scary, and gory in equal measure. Within that, Moss manages to keep the story close to plausible and deftly uses recent developments in medical science to heighten the sense of unease. Using an all-female main cast, Birth/Rebirth also addresses horrors that are specific to the female body and the way society deals with them. For all intentions good and bad, Birth/Rebirth raises the question who the real monster is.
