This was a strange little movie that reminded me of Todd Haynes' phenomenal film, Safe. In Safe, a woman becomes increasingly allergic to the world around her. Here, a woman becomes increasingly paranoid about the world, slowly shutting out the mainstream in favor of alternatives for childbirth and childrearing. This film treads the waters of vilifying midwifery and such.
Here, what begins as a love story devolves into an domestic horror film. Mina, the woman, downward spirals as she desperately tries to keep her baby "pure," by keeping him indoors and refusing to feed him properly. Meanwhile, the husband fights to get his son outdoors, fed and gaining weight.
Hungry Hearts is a pretty quiet and slow film with some excellent performances. The narrative is pretty uncomplicated, as we have the basic man = reason in crisis fighting for logic in a world of female insanity.
3/5