The Chilling Psychological Thriller ‘Mother’s Baby’

The 2025 HSBC German Film Festival closed with a chilling bang at Luna Palace Cinemas, presenting the Australian premiere of Mother’s Baby, a psychological thriller directed by Austrian filmmaker Johanna Moder. This Berlinale standout, featuring a gripping performance by Marie Leuenberger, weaves a tense narrative that lingers long after the credits roll. As the festival’s closing night film, it delivered a masterclass in suspense, blending emotional depth with unsettling ambiguity, making it a fitting capstone to a month of stellar German cinema.

Mother’s Baby centers on Julia (Leuenberger), a successful orchestral conductor, and her partner Georg (Hans Löw), whose longing for a child leads them to the enigmatic Dr. Vilfort (Claes Bang) and his private fertility clinic. The film opens with a deceptively hopeful tone, capturing the couple’s quiet desperation and the promise of a medical miracle. Moder’s direction is meticulous, using tight framing and muted colors to mirror Julia’s tightly wound psyche, setting the stage for the psychological unraveling that follows.

Leuenberger’s portrayal of Julia is nothing short of captivating, anchoring the film with a performance that balances vulnerability and paranoia. Her eyes conveying a mother’s instinctual love tainted by creeping doubt, especially after a traumatic birth where the baby is whisked away for “additional treatment.” When Julia is reunited with the child, her detachment and suspicion that it might not be hers spark the film’s central tension.

What sets Mother’s Baby apart from typical thrillers is its refusal to provide easy answers. As Julia’s doubts intensify, the film toys with the audience’s perception of reality, leaving us to question whether her paranoia is justified or a product of trauma.

As a closing night selection for the 2025 German Film Festival, Mother’s Baby was an inspired choice, showcasing the power of German-language cinema to tackle universal fears with a distinctly European sensibility. Its exploration of parenthood and trust, wrapped in a tightly coiled thriller, resonates deeply, especially in the intimate setting of Luna Palace Cinemas. The festival’s focus on contemporary German films, from comedies to biopics, found a perfect finale in this unsettling gem.