The Blessing (2009) Poster

(2009)

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5/10
Dealing with birth depression
OJT18 February 2015
Danish director Heidi Maria Faisst second feature film is a story she has written herself, about a young woman and her mother and the unsolved issues they have between them.

The young couple Katrine and Andreas is having their first born, a little girl, Rosa, in a difficult birth. Katrine has promised her mother that she could participate, but forgets when it all happens. On returning to their home, the couple are met with a surprise party from their closest. Katrines mother appears a bit later, not originally invited, but takes shortly part in the celebration. Andreas goes on an important business trip to Amsterdam, and Katrine is left alone, and turns down the offer of having Andreas' mother to help out while he is gone. She gets a visit from a little children's care nurse the day after, and she marks that Rosa has lost 145 grams since birth, and teaches her to better breast feed, and tels she'll be back in three days. When she leaves, Katrine starts crying. Everything is obviously not OK. She calls her mother, and asks for help. But it doesn't turn out the way she hopes.

The film is filmed using hand held camera, in a quite stressed way, obviously to underline how Katrine feels stressed out. The feel is very much a gray everyday situation, but a situation with a big change in Katrine's life. I can't help feeling Katrine annoys me. She acts strange and unnatural, and maybe a bit under acted. A main person it is very difficult to love. That's this films main problem. It's easier to love the colder mother, than Katrine. She's obviously having birth depressions, but still this unaffectionate feeling we gets for her probably is due to us not being able to know Katrine before she gets depressed. As such the depression fall upon us as viewers as well. Maybe intentionally, but still, difficult

So the film turns out OK, but nothing more. A pity, since the topic is both important and interesting. The film is otherwise well done, and the actors are doing a good job. More so Katrines mother and Andreas. When the film turns out less important than it should, it's mainly because we struggle with relating to the Katrines problems. As such the film feels less important than it could be, though it sympathetically clocks in on 75 minutes without dragging on unnecessary.
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