Director: Joscha Bongard
This is a bleak and meditative German movie. Billed as a satire but all too convincing to be that, it’s a modern family fable about the intrusive nature of social media. When Luca’s mother explains menstruation to her, both video camera and podcast microphones capture the moment. This clip is, in effect, a flashback because Luca (Maja Bons) is now sixteen. However her manipulative mum (Bea Brocks) and seemingly laid-back dad (Liliom Lewald) continue to exploit her as they have done since her very birth. This is nothing if not an internet family.
When Luca pushes back against the constant intrusion of filming and voice recording in their lives, her mum reminds her that they owe their comfortable lifestyle – impressive if clinical modernist house with swimming pool – to social media. Luca starts not to care and her behaviour increasingly shows that she’s quite disturbed; not at all the idealised teenager portrayed online.
While they’re sitting at the poolside, parents staring intently at their screens, Luca tries and fails to attract their attention, ultimately grabbing her dad’s laptop and throwing it into the pool. Her antics make no difference. Her real-life needs are an inconvenience when considered alongside the constant drive to post new and blandly positive content.
Luca’s friend Julie (Joy Ewulu) seems to offer an intriguing alternative to her own regimented life and social isolation. Luca only gets so far though, as Julie puts boundaries on their friendship. An attempt to run away from home is doomed to fail.
The tension escalates when Luca’s mum announces proudly that she’s planning to have another baby. Suddenly Luca’s position as the over-celebrated only child in both the real family and its fabricated shadow is under threat.
Joscha Bongard’s film builds slowly towards disaster. Its understatement is a great strength, as in a scene showing an apparently tender moment between Luca and her mother that soon gets eclipsed yet again by the requirement to record their lives. You start to wonder: is anything here genuine?
It may depict an extreme situation but the story is uncomfortably relevant to today’s split in attention between the here-and-now and the bittersweet elsewhere of technology.
The movie is not without humour or irony, which makes it entertaining as well as thought-provoking. The production values are austere but effective, drawing us into the world of a poor little rich girl. The performances of the entire cast, including Luca’s dog, are excellent.
Babystar will be in UK Cinemas from 25th September.
