In Friday's lesson within the unit, Film Genres and National Cinemas, students continued their investigation into science fiction (or sci-fi) genre films. While the first lesson this week focused more on cinematographic technology, and how its improvement and accessibility allows filmmakers to create more vivid and lifelike futuristic worlds, this lesson dove into the infinity pool of possible ethical and moral concerns that are often raised in science fiction films. In class, students worked together to consider issues such as cloning, robotics, AI, and transhumanism. While not all of these concepts and innovations are inherently bad, problems often arise in sci-fi films when humans do not know where to draw the line between scientific progress, and moral corruption. For this blog, I will focus on À Ton Image (2004) or ‘In Your Image’, a shocking and absolutely unforgettable French science fiction film from the early 2000s.
Initially, I came across À Ton Image at night on SBS. It was featured as a foreign film of the week on a Saturday night in 2010 (I was 15 years old). Two years ago, I came across it by chance on ClickView, and while it had been over 10 years since I had seen it, I immediately recognised the film. Upon watching again, the magnetism of this unique story took hold of me. From start to finish, this film makes it impossible to look away, and to not have deep wonderings in regards to the abhorrent and twisted events that ensue.
In a nutshell, the film begins with a common misfortune, infertility. Matilde and her obstetrician husband, Thomas are heartbroken over the fact that they are unable to have a child, especially after the tragic loss of their young son. While some sadly accept this fate, Thomas has another idea up his sleeve, and secretly arranges for Matilde to give birth to her clone. Believing the child to be her natural daughter, Matilde and Manon initially have a normal and loving relationship. Thomas, knowing the truth, arranges for Manon to have frequent medical examinations with the cloner in order to make sure she is healthy and progressing normally. While Matilde believes Manon to be an ill child, in reality, she as well as their entire family are part of an elaborate human cloning experiment. Manon is happy and well, apart from when she sleeps, as she is plagued with dreadful nightmares (these are later revealed to be Matilde’s memories). Growing up, Manon becomes more and more like Matilde, and begins to exhibit signs of jealousy towards her mother, and aggression towards peers. While Manon may be perceived as some kind of ‘evil child’, it is clear that she is struggling with her identity, and in finding a place in the world, where the role in question is already filled. Being the same person as her mother in body as well as soul, she begins to feel attracted to her “father”, and upon finding childhood pictures of Matilde and medical files, she realises the awful truth about her existence. Out of anger, she callously reveals the truth to Matilde, and boasts that she is a new and improved version of her, one that is younger, stronger, and more beautiful. After various altercations, Matilde had to kill Manon in order to restore order (Manon falls into the same well her young son did by accident). Any poetic justice upon reflection is lacking triumph. The ending is tragic and upsetting, especially considering that Matilde was lied to, and was made to lose yet another child.
The film is certainly one that I would define as a moral nightmare, not just for Matilde, but for all of the characters involved. While it was not right for Thomas to go behind his wife’s back to bring Manon into existence, viewers can empathise with him as he was a husband that did everything he could to bring happiness to his grieving wife. His lies, while large, can be justified as sparing the already fragile and traumatised Matilde from further pain. As mentioned previously, rather than being the evil villain of the story, Manon definitely draws the short straw in this tale. Even as a child, she finds no peace, and is forced to relive the worst memories of her mother through her nightmares. When she began to desire Thomas, it must have made her feel ‘freakish’ and immoral, but when she discovers it was because she not only looked like her mother but was her mother, her anger at being made to fulfil the role of the perfect little daughter who her mother liked to dress up in matching outfits is understandable and even reasonable. Manon is made to experience the identity crisis to end all identity crises, as she doesn’t just feel out of place in the world, but knows for a fact that she has no place while her mother is alive.
À Ton Image is one of those films that stays with you long after viewing, and certainly calls into question the ethics around human cloning, and people ‘playing God’ with technology, just because they can. For a sci-fi film that is almost 20 years old, it continues to carry a socially relevant and significant message for viewers.
References:
Cinemaetcie. (2013). “A Ton Image”, online video, viewed on 12/3/23, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkDySxDr6Ps&t=5s
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