The Clinic. Review on The Clinic Movie

‘The Clinic’ is good cinema with a few technical glitches that can be overlooked. The movie is set some time around 1979, a few years before DNA testing came into existence. It shows the Darwinian survival of the fittest.

A couple travels across the country before Christmas to spend time with Beth’s mother. Beth is in the last stage of her pregnancy and is plagued by nightmares about a baby drowning in blood and roman numerals. A rowdy driver forces them off the road and they decide to take a break by relaxing for the rest of the day at a roadside motel. The motel is virtually empty with a creepy lecherous manager who takes an instant fancy to Beth. From there the thriller starts full fledge.

Beth goes missing and wakes up in a bath tub full of ice. Her abdomen is stitched and her baby is gone. From here on a full day’s incidents are shown. Well any more details about the story will spoil everything. The journey is riveting with a weak Beth who battles odds and weakness to find her baby and freedom. The story is a mixture of thriller, fiction, and facts. It’s filled with suspense and realistic details and a climactic twist.

Beth is played by Tabrett ‘Cara’ Bethell. For all those who have seen the TV series Legend of the Seeker will be well familiar with the feisty sarcastic character of Cara Mason. The strength, boldness, and fearless Cara spirit is still present in Beth. Tabrett has been a cheerleader and lingerie model. Her body is beautiful and not skinny like the super models. The glamor quotient is not required in this role so is absent. But you cannot help feeling it. This also marrs the most powerfully performed scene in the movie where Beth wakes up naked in a dingy place with her baby gone. The actress carries off the scene showing promise but her beautiful toned body does not look like the body of a woman who has just had her baby. Also new mothers who have just given birth face other physical challenges or changes and these have been ignored which is a technical glitch.

Tabrett, I believe had too much Cara in her and this feistiness shows time and again in the character Beth who transforms into a leader. I just wonder why this actress does not work more. She is Australian but so are Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts. Also her high pitched playful voice and indecisiveness towards the beginning of the movie transforms as her character becomes more serious after becoming a Mom. So ‘The Clinic’ is also the study of maternal instinct and mental transformation of a woman.

The big let down of the movie, I would consider was the climax. I found it forced and bizarre. For all those who have watched Eli Roth’s ‘The Hostel’ Part 1 and 2 will know how the victim becomes the killer and more gruesome. The Clinic also echoes this but given the context of the movie, it seems improper. Tabrett’s character had a lot of emoting using face since quite a few things are implied in the movie.

For people who are used to watching Hollywood, take a break and watch Australian cinema sans the accent.