*WARNING: THIS MOVIE HAS A SCENE WITH INTENSE FLASHING LIGHTS, IF YOU ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO THIS, WATCH WITH CAUTION*
Baby Ruby, starring Noémie Merlant and Kit Harrington and featuring the film directorial debut of acclaimed playwright Bess Wohl, was a surprise release last week. I finally took the opportunity to see the film knowing hardly anything about it and I have to say I was fairly impressed. This is the first time I’ve seen Kit Harrington in a major role (outside of his minor role in The Eternals) since Game of Thrones ended. I had also never heard of Noémie Merlant prior to this film. I know that she starred in the acclaimed French film Portrait of a Lady On Fire, but since I haven’t seen it, this presented my first opportunity to see her work. I was surprised and impressed at the quality of this film given its seemingly small budget and limited press.
The film follows Merlant’s Jo, a French American baby/lifestyle blogger and her husband Spencer (Harrington). The couple are expecting their first child together, a process that Jo has documented heavily online and gained a large following from. When the child is finally born, Jo experiences a whole host of troubles with the baby and struggles with what is seemingly post-partum psychosis. However not all is as it seems, and the Jo believes the baby, and everyone around her, is out to get her.
Baby Ruby, from the very first scene, presents itself as a thriller. Throughout the film there was a chilling atmosphere that just felt unnerving as I was watching it to quite an effective degree. I was impressed with how well the filmmakers were able to capture the feel of the film with simple tricks like the use of sound and the color of scenes. Throughout the film, there was a distinct lack of music and in many scenes there were no- or hardly any- sounds at all. When sound is used, it is often the sound of the baby crying. This film deals heavily with newborn babies and a huge plot device is how much the baby cries. It goes from annoying to unnerving as the film progresses because of how often it is used, and we see this rub off on Jo as well. In addition, the film is shot with a distinct void of vibrant colors. Right from the start, everything looks very dull and bleak, with the use of blues and greys heavily present in the film. I was impressed at how well the atmosphere played into the thriller, and it was one of the high points of the film for me.
I also enjoyed the commentary the film provided on new motherhood and how well it dealt with the issue of post-partum depression and psychosis. The latter plays a huge role in the film as we see the toll it takes, unknowingly, on Jo. We see the things she experiences and we are led to believe that maybe they are real and maybe they aren’t, which really contributes well to the chilling atmosphere. The film always had us guessing “Did that really happen?” or “Did the baby intentionally hurt Jo” because that’s how she felt. The film takes a “Show don’t tell” approach here and it works well in my opinion.
We don’t understand that that’s really what is happening until late in the film, but they spend so much time diving into the world as Jo sees it that we also are led to question whether or not the psychosis is really causing everything as well. It’s a great dual visual message that I think works well and is elevated by a fantastic performance by Merlant. She really is the star of Baby Ruby. The film lives and dies by her and she gives a tremendous performance. The rest of the cast gives the best performances that they’re allowed, yet properly Merlant was allowed to really shine. She plays the paranoid mother role extremely well.
I do wish the film spent more time diving into some of the subplots that are introduced. It seemed as though side events happened that were then sent to the wayside in favor of the greater story without being fully developed. We can see this in scenes with Jo’s “new mom friends”. There is a big reveal with this group towards the end of the film, but once the reveal happens, their storyline is dropped and never seen again. It’s disappointing because it added a really interesting element to the film that either needed to be fully included or fully left out. I wish this had been more of the ending they explored. The ending we got in the film does nicely to tie up the story but was overall disappointing and a little confusing with how the film’s final chapter plays out. It’s as if the filmmakers ran out of steam and went for a sort of shock ending which really wasn’t necessary.
Final Thoughts
I often ask myself, after I view a film, whether or not I would watch again. Regardless of film quality, that is an important factor. While I don’t believe I would want to watch a second time, I do believe that Baby Ruby is a film worth watching if you are a fan of thrillers. It delivers a compelling story in an under-explored territory in film and that works in its favor. It’s well acted and well shot with the right amount of atmosphere to make it unnervingly eerie. While I don’t believe the film to leave a lasting impression, I do believe it to be a worthy watch. It just doesn’t have enough staying power to really make it worth watching more than once outside of Halloween. It’s not one I would actively seek out in theaters, but one I would consider turning on in October for a unique experience that fans of the genre would enjoy.
