Content Warning: The following review contains mentions of miscarriage, fertility, pregnancy, suicide and the holocaust
Premiering at the 2023 Overlook Film Festival, Clock is a Sci-Fi Horror movie that marks the directorial feature-length debut of Alexis Jacknow. Based on a short film she wrote and directed, it follows Ella (Dianna Agron) , a 37 year old with no desire for children despite the pressure from family and friends. After a doctor suggests her biological clock may be ‘broken’, she undergoes a clinical trial to ‘fix’ her in the hope she will finally desire to have children.
The film opens with a scene that is instantly both intriguing and also upsetting, with the sound of a swing creaking and the slow pan up the bloodstained legs of a woman standing on the swing before she uses the chain to hang herself. This moment immediately prompts the viewer to make certain assumptions, the nightgown with blood gathering at the bottom and running down the legs is as good as movie shorthand for a miscarriage, setting the tone for the rest of the film and providing a bookend for the movie’s resolution which brings new understanding and context to the image.
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After the opening scene, Clock takes its time to build up to the horror elements. The first half an hour is dedicated to the different points of pressure Ella is receiving, opening with her friend’s baby shower and a demonstration of how physically uncomfortable she is even touching someone else’s pregnant belly. This is perhaps the most in-your-face moment of peer pressure as the gathered women reduce it to ‘Of course you’ll want kids!’ and the lack of subtlety is juxtaposed with the much more thought provoking instances that come later. One moment comes from her pregnant friend who, upon hearing Ella say that it doesn’t come naturally to her, criticizes this mentality as all Ella needs to do is ‘spread her legs’ while she, one half of a lesbian couple, can’t experience pregnancy in the same way or become pregnant organically with the woman she loves due to her sexuality. Unfortunately this particular idea is only brought up once and not expanded upon any further, it would have been interesting to see some small indications of this in earlier interactions between the two.
The most notable is the pressure provided by Ella’s father, who describes her refusal to have kids as the reason his heart aches (this statement made even worse by the implication that he is dealing with heart problems). A key theme throughout is generational trauma and legacy. Ella’s father Joseph is the grandson of holocaust survivors and he views it as Ella’s duty to continue their family line, stating that it is her story as well as the story of those that came before and that it would be wrong for it to end with her. This is amplified by the recurring imagery that begins to haunt Ella, that of a grandfather clock, spiders and a very tall woman in black.
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Even before the images begin to pop up, the film creates a constant state of discomfort through very simple scenes and quiet tension. Fertility and pregnancy, particularly the health complications and unpleasant moments that might be glossed over, are already things that can be uncomfortable topics but combined with the close up, drawn out depictions of pelvic exams it creates a visceral reaction. While there are jumpscares involving the tall woman and they are effective, the medical moments (which include a fast paced video of different birthing scenes and Ella with a baby hanging like a pendulum between her legs) are much more intense. The hallucinations that follow are less about immediate scares and more about a slow build of emotion that bursts abruptly into reality and chaos. The viewer never knows when Ella is going to be brought out of her growing haze and if she’s going to find herself involved in something horrific.
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Dianna Agron as Ella is excellent, from her despair and anger to her more reserved moments of quiet pain at the expectations of those around her. Melora Hardin as Dr Simmons, the person running the clinical trial, should also be noted as she manages to bring reassurance and kindness even while her words and her tone hint at possibly darker motivations. It’s never established why she’s performing these trials, why she’s so determined to propagate the idea of a woman being ‘broken’ if they don’t want children and Hardin’s performance leaves viewers second guessing themselves on her every action.
Overall, despite a slow start and an initial lack of subtlety, it is a solid emotion heavy film that preys on very real fears and pressures. It manages to stay grounded where other depictions of these topics might have fallen into over the top in your face horror and the addition of the theme of generational trauma is very interesting.