Julie Delpy’s “My Zoe” is a risky endeavour for the 51-year-old actress-writer-director. It splashes through various different genres while simultaneously asking the viewer to follow along its main protagonist’s morally-controversial endeavours.
The film has recently divorced scientist Isabelle (Delpy) struggling to co-parent her daughter Zoe (Sophia Ally) with ex James (Richard Armitage), while in the final stages of their divorce. Isabelle is unhappy with James’ approach to parenting, and he believes she’s too concerned with the minute details of his approach. But when Zoe suffers an unexpected brain hemorrhage and is put on life support, the film enters unexpectedly darker territory.
Isabelle learns of a way to keep some version of her daughter alive, with the reluctant help of a medical acquaintance (Daniel Bruhl) and his wife (Gemma Arterton). The ethics of the operation, however, are a whole other story. One can call “My Zoe” a medical mystery, and not give away too much of the plot. The surprises in store are interesting, but so are the questions being asked. If you’ve followed the news and the genetic CRISPR controversy then the questions this film asks won’t be anything new, but one can see the debate only intensifying in the years to come.
Delpy takes many risks as writer-director here, pushing her narrative towards the unanswerable. Known for having previously directed fizzy rom-coms, Delpy tries to avoid conventions. There’s a strange, none-too-successful leap towards the future in the third act; in fact, there are hints throughout that the film takes place a few years into the future — highly but subtly sophisticated tablets, laptops, and phones are seen being used in foregrounds and backgrounds.
Delpy doesn’t try to turn her story into mainstream sci-fi or, God forbid, horror; the dystopia is rather portrayed with euro arthouse realism. It helps that Delpy writes the characters with enough sincerity that her bold, intriguing but not entirely successful protagonist does manage to emotionally engage. Too bad then that the final third of “My Zoe” has to resort to bogus science and implausibility after implausibility.
Despite an unsuccessful ending, I am recommending “My Zoe” because of how mysterious and interesting the movie comes off at times. I don’t mind when payoffs don’t work because if a movie has intrigued you and fully held your attention before the disappointment, then it must have done something right. I had a college professor who, before screening Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” warned the students about the aged coda of the film; “remember, it’s just the ending.”
SCORE: B-
Gyllenhaal says women face systemic barriers in an industry that may not value the kinds of films they want to make. Roy Price’s response? Watch “The Bride.”