Hulu Horror Film Asks if the Holocaust Could Stop a Modern Woman From Having a Baby

Is it a sin for a Jewish woman to decide against having a baby? In many circles, the answer would be a resounding “yes.” Many women are considered a failure if they do not have children and don’t get married.

In Hulu’s “Clock” — which is something of a mix between a sci-fi and horror film — Ella Patel is a secular Jew, who is married to an Indian-American doctor.

Her friends pester her about not having a kid. She’s almost 38, and her biological clock is ticking. A grandchild of Holocaust survivors, she says the scariest thing about the Holocaust was not simply that six million Jews were murdered, but that it was perpetrated by the best of society.

“If it happened there and then, it can happen here and now,” Ella says.

She adds that “we have a vengeful God, who I very much don’t believe in.”

It would have been useful for some character exploration to see if her grandparents being Holocaust survivors is the reason she doesn’t believe in God.

Jewish actress Dianna Agron stars as Ella. Agron may be the most underrated Jewish actress in Hollywood, as she is fantastic in everything she is in, from her role as Quinn Fabray in “Glee,” to a small role as a rightfully jealous wife in the amazing “Shiva Baby.”

I’ve interviewed numerous Holocaust survivors, who all told me that their greatest revenge against Hitler was having grandchildren and great grandchildren. But there must be some who either could not have children for medical reasons, or simply did not want children. We should not ostracize people who choose not to have children.

Ella also bemoans the vomit and diapers that will come with a child, but she reluctantly signs up for a clinical trial where something will be implanted in her. The 10-day visit will include cognitive behavioral therapy.

She has hallucinations of bugs.

“They just piled us, one on top of the other,” she says of the Nazis, and how they viewed what they were doing as extermination.

Writer and director Alexis Jacknow, who is Jewish, does some interesting things here. The film is quite creepy. In a scene where there is a half-eaten challah and candles at a Shabbat table, it’s a good move to give her husband a white yarmulke (she sees him as innocent) and her father, Joseph (Saul Rubinek), a red yarmulke, as he lays the Jewish guilt on thick — saying their bloodline will end if she doesn’t have kids and there are “a couple of empty chairs at the table.”

This story would have worked better as a series than a film, as her decision to do the trial seems forced and abrupt. There’s one great jump-scare in the film, but there should have been five or six. Why not have a nightmare where she is in the death camp trying to help her grandmother escape? What about some flashbacks involving her grandparents?

“Clock” is well-written and certainly worth watching, though it would have benefited from a few scary scenes. To be sure, there are some grotesque ones, and a scene nearly made me vomit.

With antisemitism on the rise, this is a timely film, but we don’t see an ounce of any hatred against Ella.

There is undoubtedly trauma passed down from Holocaust survivors to their offspring and it is worthy of scientific and psychological study.

“Clock” is an intriguing film that deserves praise for bringing up issues that are seldom brought up.

Credit Jacknow and Agron for not minding scenes that are out of the box, including one with amniotic fluid. But there were also aspects I didn’t love.

Will non-Jewish audiences understand that for Jewish parents, their child deciding not to have a child is a horror in and of itself? I’m not sure.

In a wedding photo, we see the young couple in traditional Indian garb and her husband is not wearing a yarmulke, so I would guess he is not Jewish but wears one at the Shabbat table for respect.

Jacknow throws in an interesting side effect from the clinical trial: Ella, who has made it her business to be an expert on paint, suddenly can’t see colors properly.

The ending has a cool twist, but I felt like I hadn’t spent enough time with Ella and her father to see that dynamic pay off, or the relationship between Ella and her husband. A pinch of humor somewhere in the first 10 minutes would have also been useful.

Jacknow has built an interesting roller coaster that is worth the ride, even though I would have liked it to go higher.

The author is a writer based in New York.

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