Hatching

Hatching is a 2022 Finnish psychological body horror film directed by Hanna Bergholm, written by Ilja Rautsi and starring Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, Jani Volanen, Reino Nordin and Saija Lentonen. It premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2022, and in theaters and on streaming on April 29, 2022. It won the Grand Prix and the Prix du Jury Jeunes at the Festival international du film fantastique de Gérardmer 2022. The film centers on Tinja, a young gymnast desperate to please her mother, a woman obsessed with presenting the image of a perfect family to the world through her popular blog. One day, Tinja finds a mysterious egg, which she chooses to bring home. Once it hatches, she names the creature within "Alli", and cares for it as it grows into a doppelgänger that acts upon Tinja's repressed emotions. Plot 12-year-old Tinja practices gymnastics, an activity imposed upon her by her mother, a former figure skater turned influencer. One day a crow flies through a window and wrecks the family's living room. Tinja captures the crow to set it free outside but her mother asks for the bird and then snaps its neck. Saddened, Tinja disposes of the crow in the trash can, not noticing that it is still moving. Afterwards, she meets a new neighbor, a girl named Reetta and her French Bulldog. That night, Tinja is awakened by cawing. She discovers the grievously-injured crow in the woods and puts it out of its misery by beating it with a stone. She then notices the crow's egg; feeling guilty at leaving it without a mother, Tinja brings the egg home and incubates it underneath a pillow, and later, as it grows bigger, inside a stuffed animal.