Maternal angst from Denmark

One other film I enjoyed seeing at the Kerala International Film Festival was The Blessing, a film from Denmark. This is also a psychological film depicting the inner fears and anxiety of a young mother blessed with a baby girl. The anxiety is due to the fact that she felt that she could not cope with the situation of caring for the baby’s needs, all alone. This inexperienced mother experiences the birth of her first child with her affable and attentive husband. The young couple manage their lives as many do in the west without any parental help. But when the child was born, the young mother desperately longed for her own mother’s assistance. Her mother lived away from where the couple lived.

Feelings

While the husband takes over the caring of the baby out of concern for his wife, the wife feels that now her affection for the baby is not taken into consideration.
She feels that even her mother who comes to help out does not take the issue into consideration and is not unduly concerned about her feelings. So here is a psychological problem.
The wife has a mental block, to the extent of discarding the baby’s needs and as a result fails to show her affection for the child. She did not even know how to breast feed the baby. When the husband had to go on assignments out of town she had to manage the baby all alone.
Subsequenly, when the baby needs immediate attention, she ignores and listens to loud music and pretends she cannot hear the baby’s agonizing cries. Only when her mother arrives is she able to take control of herself.
The wife felt that her husband and mother although, out of concern for the baby left her out of the picture and were dictating terms to her as to how to feed the baby and the rest of it.
The problem is however solved when she takes the baby to a childcare institute and then she is able to take care of the baby. The tension is finally relaxed.
This is an interesting theme and the film’s success is due to it capturing the nuances of understanding the experiences of a wife who ends up being a mother. The film is very slow moving and even annoying at times for the longish duration of showing the workings of the mind and body of the wife.
But from the director’s perspective and my understanding of the film it was quite relevant and gave depth to the film.

Woman’s perspective

Heidi Maria Faisst has written the script and directed the film. The film is created from a woman’s perspective and as such it’s innovative.
Laerke Winther Anderson plays the role of the wife in a remarkable manner.
Manuel Alberto captures the moments of anguish and joy through his lenses that add to the depth of the film. I liked the film very much.
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