Review of The Dark Matter of Love

"The Dark Matter of Love" is a film about one of the strangest and most ill-prepared families I've ever seen. A couple have a teenage daughter and decide, for reasons that are never apparent, to adopt three children from Russia that were raised in orphanages. One is a girl who is just a few years younger than their biological daughter and two are twins who are incredibly wild and very, very difficult to love. Yet, despite the difficulty in bringing one new child into the home, they bring all three at the same time!!! Some might see them as saints--I see them as a bit crazy and amazingly naive, as they never bothered to learn any Russian and didn't seem to make this choice for clear and intelligent reasons. Fortunately, things eventually seem to work out reasonably well--but in the meantime it is as if the parents chose to move to hell! And, to make it worse, their oldest never chose to do this and her feelings generally don't seem to matter. All these strange motivations and the psychological problems the family has all make for very interesting viewing. I liked these people, mind you, but I sure thought that someone should have suggested a lot of family counseling long before they ever went to pick up the children. Well made and interesting...and I love parents who adopt special needs kids...at least one at a time

As a retired social worker and therapist, this film would make great viewing for training mental health workers as well as showing to people hoping to adopt a child from abroad, as it opens up MANY, MANY important topics that should be talked about well before anyone decides to adopt.