First Born

The film moves from bustling Manhattan, where Laura works as a dancer and commutes by subway, to a quiet countryside home that becomes a stage for her unraveling. The city setting establishes ambition and social pressure, while the countryside accentuates isolation and domestic tension. The contrast between urban energy and rural quiet is central to Laura's fragile mental state.

🧠 Mental Health

The story centers on Laura's struggle with postpartum depression and psychosis, showing how mood swings, insomnia, and intrusive thoughts erode her grip on reality. Medication and medical advice are explored, but the symptoms persist and intensify. The film uses Laura's shifting perception to blur the line between danger and delusion.

👶 Motherhood

Laura's experience of pregnancy and caring for a newborn is portrayed as daunting and destabilizing. The pressure to perform as a mother, while juggling a demanding husband and a new home, amplifies anxiety and fear. The emotional distance between Laura and her baby becomes a focal point of her distress.

🌀 Reality vs Perception

Laura's reality is undermined by hallucinations of crying babies, mice, and a toy-doll, suggesting supernatural or psychological forces at play. Suspicions of witchcraft and the intrusion of an unseen presence push her toward desperation. The film tracks her gradual loss of trust in what she perceives as real, culminating in a troubling, ambiguous ending.