Starring: Marie Papillon, Stacy Martin, François Damiens
Director: Eloïse Lang
Country: France (title: La Graine)
UK Release: Amazon Prime
Lucie (Papillon) and Ines (Martin) want to have a child together. Following several unsuccessful attempts at IUI, they head to Belgium for a final attempt, only to find that the doctor (Damiens) is diluting his stock due to a sperm shortage. Taking matters into their own hands, they head out across the country in attempt to find a donor, discovering a gaggle of very peculiar characters along their way.
The French love an absurdist comedy and this certainly follows the same vein. By setting the majority of the film in Belgium, the French stereotype that their neighbours are primitive and brash is given room to breathe, because each and every one of the men that they meet is either a psycho, a pervert or a weirdo. From New Age free-love hippies to sexually repressed Mummy’s-boys, the girls’ desperate attempt to become mothers leads them everywhere except to the door of a suitable donor.
The film is witty enough, but in relying on stereotypes for its supporting cast, the laughs are pretty basic and the gags generic. While its leads are charming enough, their constant bickering doesn’t exactly warm them to us... although it is fun to see just how far they’re willing to go to have a child! But in an attempt to maintain a foot in reality, it doesn’t quite commit enough to the stupidity it flirts with.
Amusing and silly, this comedy would have benefited from committing either to bawdiness or to full-blown absurdity. Instead it dabbles in both but never quite gets to the point of being genuinely funny.
UK Release: Out now to watch on VOD on Amazon Prime
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