Two Mothers (2013)

Directed by: Anne Zohra Berrached
Country: Germany

Movie Review: “Two Mothers” is a lukewarm drama about a lesbian married couple, Katja and Isabella, who decided to have a child in Germany, a country that imposes so many legal issues, high fees and other obstacles in a very difficult process. They agreed to find a sperm donor (long part of the film relies in this aspect) but not a father, so they can educate the child without any exterior interference. The more reputable insemination clinics refuse to accept them and the treatments in minor clinics, besides too much expensive for their income, are not working out. The frustration led them to check sperm donors online, where they find their last hope: Flo, a man with already twenty children. The script shows potential but the film, not so fluid, could have been so much better executed. Set up with an unattractive light and dismal colors, “Two Mothers” counts with capable performances by Karina Plachetka and Sabine Wolf, and has the subject matter as the more interesting aspect. It was a pity that the debutant director and screenwriter, Anne Zohra Berrached, didn’t have hands to handle the story in a more absorbing way. The detachment that slowly occurs between the couple feels real and shows that Berrached knows how to extract something from the performances. However, the technical side wasn’t so strong, resulting in a deterioration of the final result. The director was awarded at Berlin Film Festival, while the two main actresses received a special mention at Potsdam Sehsüchte.