No Man’s Land

If you don’t have a partner, but would like a child, the biological clock seems to tick a little faster, and the decision to become a mother is even more complex. If you do opt to go it alone, you set off on a path that’s surprisingly formal and medicalized, says one of the three women in this short, personal contemplation on intentional single motherhood. She recently made the decision and still has a long way to go, along a route the other two have already traveled. One of them is filmmaker Charlotte Müller. She captures herself and her companions in serene images, while the women share their thoughts in fragments of interior monologue. How did they express their desire to have a child? How did they share it with the people around them, and what were the responses? Who did they ask to be at the birth? It’s obvious that the train they’re traveling on is laden with symbolism, but the purpose of the trip, which is only revealed at the end, leaves a bitter aftertaste. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)