21 minutes of claymation that'll wreck your entire understanding of motherhood.
Roza has given birth to many children, all with different men. The protagonist is Rita, her youngest daughter, whose fate - like her mother's - is to endure the effort and pain of giving birth. How and whether she can cope with this, or the world?
Direction
Three directors, one seamless vision of maternal horror.
Practical Effects
Claymation so visceral you can almost smell the damp Estonian poverty.
Sound
Minimal dialogue, maximum unease through ambient dread.
Director
Jelena Girlin
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This emerged from Estonia's post-Soviet animation renaissance, where state-funded studios suddenly had freedom to explore taboo subjects. The 'birth = suffering' metaphor resonated deeply in a country with one of Europe's lowest birth rates.
The titular table appears in nearly every scene — it's where Roza births, where children eat, where Rita ultimately sits. Some critics read this as the film's true protagonist: an inescapable domestic stage.
EE
