Mom + Mom

The lesbian pregnancy journey is already a subcategory of WLW films I’m not a fan of. I find these movies largely tread far too similar plot points and it makes the subcategory overall feel far too samey. Mom + Mom is not here to change my mind about that. In a subgenre full of such similar films, Mom + Mom is a below average execution of the standard tropes and plot points.

You know the drill with this plot. It’s a lesbian couple trying to get pregnant and having a hard go of it. The film is told from the point of view of Karole, the partner not carrying the child. Karole is very supportive of Ali, her partner who suffers through constant fertility treatments, doctor’s visits and the monthly disappointment of getting her period. In addition to their couples’ struggles with cost, Karole and Ali also have to travel to Spain for their fertility treatments. This is because Italy doesn’t offer medical fertility services like insemination to lesbian couples.

Mom + Mom is heavily based on writer/director Karole Di Tommaso’s real experiences. She took the difficult journey she and her partner had conceiving and put it on film. But honestly, I’m not sure if this experience is interesting enough to warrant a full movie. Certainly not without changes. There aren’t many plot points, a rising sense of conflict or really, anything in Mom + Mom. We see Karole and Ali trying and failing to get pregnant through the film and that’s about it. There’s no relationship or character growth to this couple. And the pregnancy journey itself may be realistic, but that doesn’t make it interesting nor does it offer anything new to the conversation. Mom + Mom is a very personal story. And while I’m glad that Di Tommaso and her partner eventually succeeded in having a child, I’m not sure I needed to see a whole movie about it.

The IMDb plot summary of Mom + Mom ends with the line, “when desire becomes stronger than pain and fatigue, miracles can happen.” I’m going to go ahead and spoil what that miracle is right now. Basically, Karole and Ali run out of money and can no longer continue to keep trying insemination. But! Karole’s elderly Grandpa is supportive and mails them a huge chunk of money to get IVF, which works. That’s it. That’s the miracle; generational wealth. I’m underwhelmed to say the least.

Di Tommaso veers away from realism only to depict several dream sequences the fictional Karole has. These are equally underwhelming as the elements based in reality. None of them capture the true strangeness of dreams. There’s not exactly nuance here either. Dream figures tend to give Karole very direct, obvious advice. Or, the symbolism in the dreams is so obvious and overdone as to be passe. Each dream sequence is far too long and hardly advances plot or character at all. All it does is pad out the runtime of this 80 minute movie. In this case, these sequences just draws more attention to the fact that there’s not enough content in this story the way Di Tommaso tells it to carry a full film.

Mom + Mom is one of the weakest entries in the lesbian pregnancy subgenre that I’ve seen. The story is very personal. But it’s personal in the same way someone telling you a long, uninteresting story is. Di Tommaso never offers a good enough reason why we should care about her very personal journey. The directorial choices are not there. And the story needed a stronger thru-line of theme or character development. I agree with the film’s thesis that it’s needlessly difficult and expensive for lesbian couples to get pregnant. But I’ve seen many films do this same theme with better success and certainly, better character work.

Overall rating: 3.7/10

Other WLW films in similar genres