Written and directed by Julie Delpy
Starring Julie Delpy, Richard Armitage, Daniel Brühl, Gemma Arteron, Sophia Ally
Rated R – adult situations, children in peril, pregnancy loss
1 hour 40 minutes
Currently in theaters

by Audrey Callerstrom, Staff Writer

My Zoe is a peculiar film, one that puts itself firmly along one pair of tracks for a story about grieving, bickering parents, only to change routes around the one hour mark. It allows time for the heaviness of the material to breathe, and then makes a slight turn into fantasy. It’s unclear what writer/director Julie Delpy is trying to say, although she proves to be a capable director working with such emotional and weighted material. She lets scenes breathe, and doesn’t opt for standard dramatic beats, or even any music, original or otherwise. If it’s Delpy’s goal to show how deep and boundless a mother’s love for her child is, she certainly succeeds, but beyond that it’s hard to determine her intent.

In My Zoe, Delpy’s seventh film as a director, she stars as Isabelle, a dedicated working mom and immunologist, in the process of separation from her ex, James (Richard Armitage, The Hobbit films). Their separation was recent, and James was resistant. He insists that they stay together for the sake of their seven-year-old daughter, Zoe (Sophia Ally). The film follows Isabelle and Zoe in their day to day. Isabelle coordinating custody sharing with James, Isabelle enjoying a day at the zoo with Zoe and Isabelle’s boyfriend (Saleh Bakri). When Zoe is with her dad, we can see that Isabelle aches. She misses a piece of herself. She keeps one of Zoe’s toys on her nightstand. Knowing that Zoe is with her dad at the waterpark, she goes into a panic when he’s not answering her texts. Did she fall? Is she OK? She looks into whether there were any recent accidents at waterpark in Berlin, where they reside. There are none.

It’s because we are so invested in Isabelle and her struggle to spend as much time with Zoe as she needs, while also handling a demanding career, that makes the next series of events that much more brutal. Zoe suddenly and unexpectedly falls seriously ill. We find out later that she fell on the playground and hit her head while under the care of the nanny. Every parent’s worst nightmare starts playing out. This isn’t Dustin Hoffman rushing through Manhattan to bring his son to the hospital in Kramer v. Kramer. Zoe experienced intercranial bleeding. Delpy orchestrates the film’s standout scene in this moment, as James and Isabelle, in an isolated room awaiting news from the surgeon, start fighting about their marriage and whose fault this was. It may remind you of some of the tenser scenes in another Delpy film. James accuses Isabelle of putting her career before family; Isabelle accuses James of pushing her away. It’s even revealed that James was put off by Isabelle sexually after she gave birth. This scene, intentionally, plays on for an uncomfortable length of time. We see what the marriage might have looked like and why Zoe was driven to another man. James doesn’t want Isabelle for a wife for any other reason than thinking that would also make her a better mother. Then, the worst possible news–Zoe is unlikely to recover.

Before Isabelle loses Zoe, she’s already grieving. Isabelle’s muscle memory recalls how, on their walks, she used to put her hand out so Zoe would catch up and grab it. Initially, Isabelle is resistant to sign away the ability to give Zoe’s organs to donors. This is her child. She’s still here. Why are we auctioning off pieces of her? Once Zoe is gone, Isabelle doesn’t allow herself to grieve. Instead, she turns into action mode. She takes blood cells from Zoe’s arm and flies to Moscow to meet with the controversial Dr. Fischer (Daniel Brühl, Inglourious Basterds), who operates an IVF practice where women well into their 50s and 60s are able to carry children. They met at a conference a while back. Isabelle knows that cloning is possible, and wants to see that Zoe is cloned with the cells she took. Dr. Fischer, initially hesitant, eventually succumbs to Isabelle’s emotional pleadings and begins the process, asking his wife, Laura (Gemma Arterton) to provide Isabelle with emotional support.

My Zoe takes place in a not-too-distant future were this kind of procedure is possible. We also see Isabelle using her smartphone as a slap bracelet, implying that we’re a little removed from the present day. The ending is uplifting, especially after the grueling losses and grief that Isabelle endures, but how did we get here? Delpy brings in a mother character for Isabelle in the form of Lindsey Duncan for a brief and obligatory scene. Given Duncan’s acting capabilities and striking resemblance to Delpy, it seems a missed opportunity not to bring more dimension to this character, particularly in a film about a mother’s love. My Zoe is a heartbreaking meditation on being a mom, but it ties everything up a little too neatly by the end. Science acts as a deux ex machina for Zoe’s grief. I wish that My Zoe focused more about grief and healing, or even about grief and desperation, than the quick fix that that science presents for Isabelle’s loss.