The Baby Project (2024)

كًتبت بواسطة ssunnyy111 في مايو 14, 2025

The Baby Project is a deeply troubling and disturbing short film — but in the most captivating way possible. I first discovered Saskia Mae through her Substack, where her writing instantly pulled me in. Her piece “he wouldn’t touch me” felt like someone had finally put words to a feeling I couldn’t name. Her entire account — from her fashion commentary to her reflections on vulnerability — is so raw and thoughtful. So when I came across her short film The Baby Project, I was immediately intrigued. And I’ll say this: I was not disappointed.

From the first frame, I was mesmerized. The old-VHS style cinematography gives the film an eerie, almost haunted aesthetic. That analog texture adds such a heavy emotional tone — like we’re watching memories that were never meant to be recorded. For such a short film, it’s executed flawlessly. Every second feels intentional, and the storytelling is unbelievably tight.

What really stood out to me is the shift in power dynamics — the woman becomes the oppressor, and the man the victim, all within the unsettling structure of a dystopian world. But what makes it even more haunting is how human their desperation is. The woman wants to be loved — or even just desired — in a society where women are reduced to baby-making machines. She seems to feel that the only way to matter is to be longed for, and when the man doesn't return that longing, she tries to force it. She tries to mold passion into something performative, even violent. “They make her like an adjective,” she says — a line that completely shattered me. She’s not evil by nature, but her desire becomes twisted, obsessive. She wants to be wanted so badly that she tries to wring attraction out of him, which only breaks him further.

Both of them are fractured reflections of desire: she desires too much, and he desires little to none. That contrast is what turns the entire story into a tragic spiral. You’re watching two people completely lose themselves to the roles they’ve been forced into — and the emotional collision is devastating.

And then there’s the ending. That ending. The man — once the victim — becomes the aggressor, driven not just by revenge but by shame. It’s heartbreaking and horrifying. He lashes out not only at his wife for pushing him, but at the camera crew, for witnessing it — for preserving it. His violence becomes a scream against his own humiliation, his own powerlessness. It's terrifying and tragic all at once.

And the acting? Incredible. Especially the male lead — his performance is so layered, so raw, it carries the entire emotional arc of the film. Every look, every silence, says something.

All in all, The Baby Project is one of the best short films I’ve ever seen. Visually stunning, emotionally jarring, and thematically rich. It lingers in your mind long after it ends.