Compared to Lynch and celebrated in Berlin, “Mother’s Baby” opens in Brazilian theaters March 5, unraveling the dark side of new motherhood.
Julia is 40, a successful conductor, and still yearning for a family with her partner Georg. When Dr. Vilfort promises an experimental fertility procedure can make her dream come true, she quickly becomes pregnant. But the birth goes terribly wrong: the baby is taken from her arms before she can even hold him. When she finally reunites with the child, Julia begins to doubt whether the infant is truly hers.
That is the premise of “Mother’s Baby”, a psychological thriller co-written and directed by Austrian filmmaker Johanna Moder (“Once Were Rebels”), opening in Brazilian cinemas this Thursday, March 5, 2026, distributed by Autoral Filmes.
A Berlinale contender with global reach
A co-production between Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, the film premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, competing for the Golden Bear. It also screened at the India Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights (Estonia), Sitges (Spain), and dozens of festivals worldwide.
The cast features Marie Leuenberger (“Beloved Sisters”), Hans Löw (“Toni Erdmann”), and Claes Bang (“Bonjour Tristesse”). International critics have praised the film widely: The Hollywood Reporter calls it “gripping, unsettling, and laced with dark humor,” while Deadline compared it to David Lynch’s “Eraserhead” for its “visceral evocation of motherhood.”
The hidden face of motherhood
“Mother’s Baby” joins a growing wave of female-directed films that probe the disturbing undercurrents of motherhood, alongside titles like Marielle Heller’s “Cabrini” and Mary Bronstein’s “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You.” For Moder, choosing the thriller genre was an intentional creative decision.
I deliberately chose to tell this story as a psychological thriller rather than a drama. The film plays with visual darkness and the juxtaposition of beauty and pain. Julia’s world becomes hazy, but the question of reality remains.
Moder also describes the project as deeply personal: “It is a kind of reckoning, though I am not sure with whom or with what.” On the story’s emotional core, she adds: “The promised happiness does not materialize with the birth of the child. Instead, it is the beginning of a nightmare. The reality behind the perfect facade of happy families is rarely shown or acknowledged.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuuu7lniMgE
Screening info
“Mother’s Baby”, directed by Johanna Moder
Thriller | 2025 | 108 minutes | Check age rating
Opening date: March 5, 2026
Screening cities: Balneário Camboriú, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Caxias do Sul, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Santos, São Luis, and São Paulo
More info: https://www.instagram.com/autoral_filmes/
Photo: Autoral Filmes
