Clock Review – Truly Haunting
Ella Patel (Dianna Agron) lives a rewarding and successful life as an interior designer, has an idyllic marriage, beautiful home, enjoys volunteer work and cooking as her passion. Yet everyone perceives something missing in her life because she lacks children; friends harass her about this matter while her father expresses disappointment about it all while Aidan accepts their childless state; this endeavor must come from both of them as opposed to obligation being thrust upon Ella out of obligation alone.
At 37, Ella decides she must finally take action to rectify her biological clock and her desire for pregnancy is seen as an issue that requires remediation. At this facility, Ella meets Dr Simmons (Melora Hardin), who offers programs aimed at helping women overcome fears surrounding children and pregnancy.
Alexis Jacknow’s film features imagery associated with pregnancy and fertility: We see images such as Ella’s grandfather clock as well as food images depicting eggs – particularly deviled egg dip. Reminiscent of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, food imagery is used here as an allegory to illustrate female femininity; in Ella’s case this feeling feels especially oppressive due to her Jewish roots, with grandparents going through hell during World War Two but yet she cannot bring herself to continue that legacy herself.
Agron is central to this film with her performance as Ella; fully immersing herself into Ella’s character arc from self-assured, confident woman to paranoid and hysterical over time is hard for viewers to bear after witnessing such beautiful lives as before hers were dimming down until finally all aspects that once meant something no longer do – as all aspects that once brought satisfaction become less satisfying; she becomes slave to hormone treatments regardless of side effects she is suffering; all because Agron believes she needs Ella to play Ella’s character through;
Jacknow’s film offers an examination of society’s treatment of women’s bodies: we’re expected to become vessels for life and can feel judged or found wanting when we don’t reach this expectation; making many desperate to have children. Even medical procedures seem dehumanising when you witness Ella having her body prodded and examined at one point during this film.
Why doesn’t anyone respect Ella’s choices and agency? Why must she feel guilty for living the life she wants, rather than what everyone else expects of her? Even her own husband seems more concerned with his own desires rather than Ella herself.
Clock, though at times predictable in its horror imagery, manages to still incite revulsion and horror within viewers. There were quite a few times where my mouth dropped open as Clock immersed us into graphic and disturbing material with unwavering force; never was there an indifferent moment in its story-line! There’s never an uneven moment here.
