Ketevan Vashagashvili’s documentary portrays a young mother who turns to surrogacy to provide for her own daughter.
“Why do women become surrogate mothers in Georgia? What’s the main reason? Social and economic problems, obviously.” At least, that’s what the voice track of an Georgian broadcast segment claims. Ketevan Vashagashvili plays the audio excerpt early on in her feature documentary debut. Her observational matter-of-fact account portrays one of these Georgian surrogate mothers. In a short introduction the director recounts how she met single mother Zhana more than a decade ago. Back then young Zhana lived on the streets of Tbilisi with her four-year-old daughter Elene. Vashagashvili put them both in a documentary short. Visuals of that early work serve as an intro to her recent take on Zhana. In this intro the director suggests they would have been friends ever since.
Over the course of the documentary, the director shows her experiencing two surrogate pregnancies. After the first Zhana tries to take one surrogate agency to court and to apply for government sponsored housing. Both attempts end unsuccessful. This sparse course of events would leave plenty of room for objective insight into Zhana’s situation and the processes of surrogacy in Georgia. However, context and reliable information are rare in this muddled chronicle. Its timeline and duration are not established and difficult to make out. There are no interviews with experts, agency representatives, other surrogates or parents. This lack of differentiation severely deprives the documentary of nuances and adds to the overall shady impression of surrogacy.
If there is some trust established between the director and her subject, it doesn’t translate on screen. Zhana comes over as one-dimensional and pitiful and avoids talking about herself. The camera moves like an invisible intruder through the 29-years-old’s life. When the film introduces Zhana in present day, she is already near the end of her surrogacy. When and how she started this work, how many surrogacies she had, for which agencies she worked or her experiences: All of this stays largely unclear. One of the few established facts is that Zhana gets 14.000 dollars remuneration. But her economic position is still dire. If she had other assignments, then what happened with the money? Vashagashvili never asks, never details the contract and gives no information about the country’s regulation of surrogacy. There is also no information about the level of decriminalization and legal rights for those who use or provide it.
Vashagashvili’s skewed view on the topic betrays a curious lack of interest. This disinterest extends to Zhana’s situation. Handheld camera images without soundtrack suggest straightforward objectivity. However, Vashagashvili’s pragmatic scenes of Zhana’s everyday life and harsh economical situation are clearly selective. She focuses on legal disputes, mental strain and bodily discomfort. Zhana appears to be ashamed in front of Vashagashvili who puts a voyeuristic emphasis on her pain. The framing leaves the impression that her second surrogate pregnancy pushes her physically to the limit. When Zhana is hospitalised, the audience can only guess why. Vashagashvili’s and Zhana’s rapport appears one-sided from Zhana and in-transparent. Instead of openly talking to Zhana, Vashagashvili shows her telling Elene over and over tearfully: “I’m only doing this for you!”
That’s some heavy guilt tripping there, and 16-year-old Elene suffers visibly. She studies hard to fulfill her mother’s dream of becoming a lawyer. Never mind that it’s not her dream job. But the director never addresses the constant psychological pressure her mother puts her under. Vashagashvili takes part in the emotional manipulation by milking the co-dependent dynamic between mother and daughter for maximum sentimentality. Teary close-ups of Zhana and Elene force up the melodrama. Their affected protestations of love and sacrifice ring hollow and feel strangely scripted. They feel sadly adequate for a film that looks down on surrogacy instead of looking at it.
At the end of the documentary, Zhana is as much a stranger as in the beginning. If anything, the audience is now more confused about surrogacy in Georgia. Thus, the broadcast track at the beginning states an unfortunate truth: “Since this topic is taboo, it’s often misunderstood.” Vashagashvili’s shallow documentary does little to change that.
- OT: Ცხრათვიანი კონტრაქტი
- Director: Ketevan Vashagashvili
- Screenplay: Ketevan Vashagashvili
- Year: 2025
- Distribution | Production © AGITPROP
