Theatrical Release Date: Germany / Hungary / France, 2010
Director: Benedek Fliegauf
Writer: Benedek Fliegauf
Cast: Eva Green, Matt Smith, Lesley Manville, Peter Wight, István Lénárt, Hannah Murray, Ruby O. Fee, Tristan Christopher, Jesse Hoffmann

BluRay released: May 7th, 2012
Approximate running times: 112 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 English, Dolby Digital Stereo English
Subtitles: N/A
BluRay Release: Arrow Video
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £10.49

Synopsis: Distraught over the lost of her childhood sweetheart, a young woman tries to bring her long lost love back to life by making a clone from his DNA.

“The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence” – Thomas Wolfe

At the heart of Clone is a story about a young woman named Rebecca, who is willing to go to great lengths to fill the void that has been brought on by her own loneliness. As a young child she forms a strong friendship with a boy named Thomas. Years later right before they are able to consummate their love for each other, a accident causes his death. She tries her best to conceal her feelings for her first love. Unfortunately as time goes by she decides that she can no longer bear being without him, so she’s clones him and raises his clone from birth.

Of course making a clown of your long lost first love there is bound to be road bumps along the way. First off, the dynamic of their relationship changes from lovers, to that of child and mother. At first this second chance appears to be an idyllic substitute for what had been lacking in Rebecca’s life since Thomas’s untimely death. That is until another woman enters in the clone version of Thomas’s life and this event ends up making Rebecca jealous.

Without a doubt this film’s most compelling and dare I say provocative assets is the way in which explores the bond between a child and their mother. At first it appears that Rebecca is content with just being Thomas’s clones mother. Then as the story progresses things go slightly awry as the film shifts its focus on the laws of attraction and how each person is drawn to a certain type of attributes. Naturally this shift in tone puts its theory to the test, when Rebecca is forced to decide if she wants to be the nurturing mother or the lover.

Another great asset that this film has is the abstract feel to its narrative, which does not confine the events which unfold. Thus letting the story at hand speak for itself and not be confined by the limitations of a straight forward narrative structure. Also at just over 110 minutes pacing is never an issue as each new revelation effortlessly flows into the next.

Performance wise this film’s two leads, Eva Green (The Dreamers, Casino Royale) in the role of Rebecca and Matt Smith (‘Doctor Who’) in the role of Thomas and his clone. Both of their performances are pitch perfect.

The BluRay:

Clone comes on a 25 GB single layer BluRay. The film is presented in a 1080 progressive anamorphic widescreen. This is a well authored transfer that does a superb job retaining the intended look of this film.

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English and a Dolby Digital Stereo mix in English. Both audio mixes sound clear and balanced throughout. This is a mostly dialog driven film and what sounds that do play an integral part in this film lean. With that being said the more ambient aspects of the soundtrack are well represented, especially on the DTS-HD 5.1 mix in English.

Extras for this release include a trailer for the film (1 minute 42 seconds – anamorphic widescreen) and a ‘Making of’ featurette titled ‘Inside Clone’ (22 minutes 44 seconds – anamorphic widescreen) that includes comments from the cast and a wealth of onset footage. Also included with this release is a trailer for the film, Perfect Sense (which also stars Eva Green). Overall Clone gets a first rate release from Arrow Video.

Note: this film is also being released by Arrow Video on DVD.