Directed by:
Sophie LetourneurScreenplay:
Sophie LetourneurCinematography:
Laurent BrunetVOD (1)
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Claire is a famous pianist whose life is constantly controlled by her husband Frederic, who also acts as her agent/coach/minder. For the sake of Claire's career, both have decided not to have children; but Frederic changes his mind after witnessing a baby being unexpectedly delivered in public. He tampers with her birth control pills so that she becomes pregnant. What has started out as an unnerving film on toxic masculinity morphs into a wacky comedy, thanks to the unmistakable raw documentary style of Sophie Letourneur. Énorme bends expectations, genders and couple dynamics in unexpected, weird and tender ways. Claire rediscovers a body she has neglected and a sense of freedom. Frederic lives his wife's pregnancy more than by proxy: gaining weight, attending courses for expectant moms and 'feeling' her pain. It's in its most absurd moments that the film tackles womanhood the best. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)
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I was surprised by how many people found this film repulsively misogynistic. In my opinion, Sophie Letourneur actually forces viewers to think about misogyny. The husband longs for a child, so he replaces the contraceptives used by his wife Claire, who is busy with her career as a concert pianist, with a placebo. The woman gets pregnant, but the man is the first to know. He therefore makes her an appointment with the gynaecologist for a time after which it is no longer possible (or safe) to have an abortion under French law. That sounds terrifying, like something out of a horror movie, but that is exactly the point. In accordance with patriarchal logic, he appropriates the woman to such an extent that he deprives her of all agency and even takes control of her body and pregnancy, which he then experiences as if it were his own and, instead of the expectant mother, he educates himself in the area childcare and attends a “Love, Milk and Cuddling” course. He realises that he cannot replace Claire entirely perhaps only during the visits to the hospital, which are filmed to emphasise the clinical nature of the whole process in documentary style with doctors. Nevertheless, he continues to see her not as a full-fledged and autonomous human being, but instead perceives her only through her belly, which grows to an enormous size a month before her due date, making her life even more difficult. For Claire, the unwanted pregnancy is primarily a source of stress, frustration, confusion and pain. She loses her bodily integrity and, in the eyes of others, her identity is supplanted by that of her unborn child. She finds peace only when she returns to the piano, not in the role of mother. Neither the humour nor the style in which the film was made is warm, as you would expect from a comedy about pregnancy. With its coldness, spitefulness and reversal of gender stereotypes, Énorme is not reassuring, but rather disturbing and steps outside of the concept, which the best comedies should do, in my opinion. I’m just afraid that someone will shoot a remake that is not a reflection of chauvinism, but a product of it.
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