Ema and her partner are torn apart after their adopted son proves violent and they ultimately decide to hand him back. Trying to cope with grief and guilt, Ema procedes to seduce both of the child's adopted parents. It sounds like a crazy story, but I think the film is more intelligent than this. My reading of it is not that the events it describes are supposed to be actually happening; rather that they represent a kind of fantasy, as Ema tries to reconcile herself to what has happened and imagine a way forwards, and that the words spoken are not things that are actually said, but rather what she needs to say, and can't. Even then, I didn't really understand the final scene. As a life affirming story, it doesn't make much sense; in my interpretation, it's a thoughful meditation on the sheer difficulty of being human.
Review of Ema
