In Her Womb

Author(s): Mark Feliciano
Location: Philippines

“In Her Womb"

Director: Sam Mendes (AMERICAN BEAUTY) and Mark Feliciano
Music by: Thomas Newman (IN THE BEDROOM)

Principal Cast:

Sandra Oh (Vivian Chan) The Reporter
Gloria Romero (Leah Chan) The Mother
Morgan Freeman (Nicholas Gray) The Step Dad

Tagline: "Forgiveness is the final form of Love"

Synopsis: A story of a woman (Sandra Oh) who hated her mom (Gloria Romero) even after her death. She collapsed in front of national TV in the middle of her report after receiving the news. She found it embarrassing and can't believe her mom's death will have a huge impact on her. This woman who’s responsible for making her life miserable had died of a stroke and she can't feel any remorse. She had no plans of going back home, but her death would be her final visit to the woman whom she hated all these years. Her visit brings back old memories of her mom who constantly interfered with her life: Like the time when she forced her to break up her relationship to her first love, the countless times she underestimated her and reminding her how her life would turn out different if she didn't have a daughter.

She met her step dad (Morgan Freeman) for the first time and treated him with no respect at all. But he was patient and kind and all he ever wanted is to convince her that her mom loved her so much and she was proud of her accomplishments.

She forced herself to deal with her relatives who disgraced and blamed her for her mother's death and she observed how her step dad was affected by the sudden death of mom. He was a stranger to her eyes but she knows he loved her and she thought her mom doesn't deserve a man like him who exudes such warmth and affection.

She visited her friends and she can see in their eyes how they envied her success and perseverance to achieve her dreams to be a reporter. All she lacked is a man in her life but she doesn't really care. She witnessed her mom divorcing one guy after the other and they all left her. Well maybe except for the last one, who is still in mourning. She never wanted to be like her mother and she was successful. But she knows she feels a void all these years but just can't admit it. All she knows is, at the end she was victorious. She made her mom realize she was someone she can never be.

She didn't attend the burial and went back to work. But at work, she became very irritated and insensitive to the people around her and found it hard to concentrate. She had sleepless nights and was forced to drink alcohol to remedy her insomniac. Because of this habit, she lost her job for the times of coming to work late.

She will receive a call from a friend informing her that her step dad was in the hospital and he needed her. With no questions asked, she goes back and took care of her step dad. The conversations she had with her step dad made her realized a lot of things and that she was wrong for treating her mom like that. After a few days, her step dad died and for the first time she cried and expressed her emotions. At the end she finally forgave her mom for everything she has done and she was able to visit her grave and apologized for her actions.

What the press would say:

This film is loaded with heart and it is both sweeping and intimate. There's no ignoring the fact that In Her Womb is a moving work, both a contemporary and an eternal story about the interlinked boundaries between a mother and a daughter. . It gives refreshing - - and bittersweet - - dimension to the age- old clash between generations. Sandra Oh is the soul of this movie and hopefully this will earn her an Academy Award nomination.

FYC

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