Motherhood is terrifying. Every aspect of becoming a new mother breeds terror and anxiety, from giving birth to a mother’s identity post-baby, and countless horror movies have explored just about every facet of it over the decades. Yet horror always finds something new to say. Writer/Director Bess Wohl’s debut feature, Baby Ruby, uses psychological horror to put viewers in the shoes of a new mother unraveling after giving birth. It’s a fascinating means to open up conversations and shed light on postpartum psychosis.
Jo (Jumbo’s Noémie Merlant) exudes an air of style and perfection. She’s an influencer with a blog so successful that she has a staff, including a close assistant. Jo’s so controlling of her blog’s image that she won’t even let anyone else throw her a baby shower for her first child with her husband, Spencer (Kit Harrington). She fusses with the decorations and precise angles of cake placement until it’s picture-perfect. But her carefully curated idyllic life comes unraveling the moment newborn Ruby enters the world. Everyday maternal anxieties crescendo into full-blown paranoia and fear that Ruby might be out to get her the more bizarre her baby behaves.
Wohl takes measured steps in escalating Jo’s troubles. At first, nothing seems particularly out of the ordinary. Jo seems like your average mother reeling from getting thrust into the deep end of caring for a newborn. The endless wailing, the lack of sleep, and an inability to get her home in the wake of Ruby’s arrival together make for common telltale signs of a new mother. But for Jo and her controlling nature, it hits her even harder. She refuses to cut herself a break. That’s before Ruby seems to have it out for her. Wohl keeps a steady incline on unsettling horror to progress Jo’s unraveling.
It’s never a question of whether it’s all in Jo’s mind or if there is something indeed wrong with Ruby. Instead, it’s a question of whether this is a typical experience for new mothers, especially one with Jo’s A-type personality. It soon becomes evident that no, it’s not. Instead, Wohl seeks to spotlight an under-discussed illness that can and does affect new mothers; postpartum psychosis.
Baby Ruby isn’t a horror movie in the conventional sense but plays like one to elicit empathy for Jo’s difficult and heartbreaking situation. Whispers, hallucinations, surreal jumps through time, paranoia, and reality distortions make you uncomfortable and unsure of what’s happening.
It’s not just Wohl’s use of horror tools and visual language that captures Jo’s terror and franticness. Merlant commands the film as a struggling woman desperate to find a buoy in tumultuous waters. Her extreme mood swings, fears, and distress vying to love and protect her baby add depth and evoke sympathy. Harrington isn’t quite as successful as the confused husband, deeply unsure how to help his wife, but luckily the focus remains almost entirely on Merlant.
Wohl successfully captures the journey, from early and indistinguishable warning signs to a full-blown horror movie-like breakdown, but struggles to tie it all together. Baby Ruby externalizes so much of Jo’s affliction through supporting characters, yet it can’t quite find a way successfully internalize Jo’s attempts to reckon with her reality by the finale. Wohl extends that conclusion too long with a metaphorical coda that’s tonally out of place. Even still, Wohl and Merlant wield the horror effectively and create a compelling character in Jo to destigmatize an oft-underseen and rarely discussed mental illness.
Baby Ruby made its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
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