The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMovie reviews

My Zoe

My Zoe | Movie review
2 October 2020
Ghazaleh Golpira
Avatar
Ghazaleh Golpira
2 October 2020

Movie and show review

Ghazaleh Golpira

My Zoe

★★★★★

Release date

5th October 2020

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

No-one said parenthood was easy, not least when your profession demands countless hours away from your kid. Stuck in a bitter divorce and having to balance her career as a geneticist with childcare responsibilities, Isabelle (Julie Delpy) turns to Magda (Tijan Marei) for help, though at a cost. After a sustained head injury, young Zoe (Sophia Ally) falls into a coma, leaving Isabelle to make that all-important decision as to how far she is willing to go to resuscitate her child.

Julie Delpy takes centre stage in this melodrama about marital life and the moral ties that bind us. My Zoe feels like two films in one. The first half has a dysfunctional element to it – two individuals fighting for the custody of their daughter and failing to come to a consensus – while the second half pushes the narrative into the sci-fi / psychological thriller domain through its introduction of cloning and the ethics behind it. There are many questions to be asked at this point, some of which are not fully addressed, resulting in the story losing a great proportion of the truthfulness that it had slowly been accumulating. The issue with having a major plot twist so far into the narrative is that the pacing is compromised and the ending is rushed, giving viewers less opportunity to digest and connect with the material they are viewing. My Zoe follows this pattern, especially in the last fifteen minutes.

Delpy’s performance is credible. As the director she conveys the broken family unit very well. Nobody can fault a mother for wanting what is best for her child, but there is a limit to all this, a line that should never be crossed. After all, no amount of cloning can bring back the same child that mama once loved.

★★★★★

Ghazaleh Golpira

My Zoe is released digitally on demand on 5th October 2020.

Watch the trailer for My Zoe here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Movie reviews

Foster Boy

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Judas and the Black Messiah

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell

★★★★★
Jake Cudsi
Read More

The United States Vs Billie Holiday

★★★★★
BP Flanagan
Read More

The Sinners

★★★★★
Emma Kiely
Read More

What Lies Below

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Blush

★★★★★
Mersa Auda
Read More

Wrong Turn

★★★★★
Musanna Ahmed
Read More

Ayouni

★★★★★
Jacob Kennedy
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Movie and show review

Ghazaleh Golpira

My Zoe

★★★★★

Release date

5th October 2020

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Judas and the Black Messiah
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Laura Mvula – Under a Pink Moon
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Swordsman
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Handsome
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Jumbo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Da Capo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

IT London in Mayfair: A glamorous Italian gourmet journey | Restaurant review
Melanie C | Album review