Ideas of motherhood in Inside

Abstract

As Simone de Beauvoir and many others have discussed, western society too often assumes that the single goal of a woman’s life should be motherhood. These assumptions can be very damaging for women who choose to pursue other avenues instead of or in addition to motherhood. This article will use the writings of Beauvoir, Sarah Hrdy and Élisabeth Badinter to demonstrate how the recent horror film À l’Intérieur/Inside (2007), by Bustillo and Maury, examines these ideas by portraying a conflict between differing ideals of motherhood, each embodied as one of the film’s main characters. The article will argue that Inside understands modern constructions of motherhood as being damaging to society and destructive to mothers themselves.