Clone

This was meant to mark the triumphant big-screen debut of Matt Smith of ‘Doctor Who’. But several dispiriting festival screenings and one fanboy-friendly name change from ‘Womb’ later, this dour and icy sci-fi melodrama limps into cinemas. It’s the tale of Rebecca (Eva Green), whose devastation at the death of her soulmate Tommy (Smith) leads her to impregnate herself with his genes and give birth to an exact copy. The film has a number of problems: the style, tone and subject matter are reminiscent of ‘Never Let Me Go’, which hardly set the box office alight. Moreover, the subject matter is never adequately explored: writer-director Benedek Fliegauf is more interested in a half-formed attack on social injustice than the more interesting emotional core of the situation. Most damningly, the acting – Green excepted – is awful. So despite a fascinating concept, a gorgeous look and a silky score, ‘Clone’ is difficult to warm to.