The Mother (2003/I)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Roger Michell

Writer:

Hanif Kureishi (writer)

Release Date:

9 October 2003 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

It can take a lifetime to feel alive.

Plot:

A grandmother has a passionate affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Death Of Husband | Age Difference | Builder | Drawing | Infidelity

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 11 nominations

Cast

Anne Reid	...	May
Peter Vaughan	...	Toots
Anna Wilson-Jones	...	Helen
Daniel Craig	...	Darren
Danira Govich	...	Au Pair
Harry Michell	...	Harry
Rosie Michell	...	Rosie
Izabella Telezynska	...	Polish Cleaner
Steven Mackintosh	...	Bobby
Cathryn Bradshaw	...	Paula
Carlo Kureishi	...	Jack
Sachin Kureishi	...	Jack
Simon Mason	...	Man in Tate Gallery
Oliver Ford Davies	...	Bruce
Jonah Coombes	...	Estate Agent

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content including graphic images of sexuality, language and brief drug use.

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Mexico:C (cinema release) | Iceland:12 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Australia:MA | Canada:14A | Czech Republic:18 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:R16 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:R21 | Spain:18 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

British Airways London Eye, South Bank, London, England, UK

Company:

BBC Films

Trivia:

The first feature film funded entirely by the BBC.

Goofs:

Continuity: When May is telling Darren about her affair and just before she asks him to take her to bed, Darren does not have a carpenter's pencil in his ear. When we see him a few moments later, the pencil is over his ear.

Quotes:

May: Oh, Darren. This cigarette's making my chest all congested. I can't breathe.
Darren: What would happen if you did breathe?
May: I'd say, would you... would it be too much trouble... spare rooms... would you come to the spare rooms with me... would you...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Comedy Connections: Dinnerladies (#4.2)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Space Oddity

Fine acting, but no-one to like in this family

There's a very fine review by law prof on these pages and not much for me to add. Ann Reid puts in a superb performance as the middle-aged mum whose desires are re-awakened by her bullying husband's sudden death and Daniel Craig plays the Rough Trade tradesman with great gusto. There's also a wonderful cameo from Oliver Ford Davies as an elderly and inept suitor for Mum's hand. The story is told very clearly with sparkling photography – the cheerful visual atmosphere being rather at odds with the grim storyline.

My problem however with the film is that everyone in it is either completely repulsive (eg the son and daughter in law and the rough tradesman) or is behaving badly. Mum is a sympathetic character but she makes all the wrong choices, and behaves pretty selfishly, though we do get an inkling as to why. She wouldn't be the first Mum to kick over the traces after a long marriage to a dominant partner. But we wind up feeling sorry for her daughter rather than Mum because she gets done over, not because she is otherwise sympathetic.

The trouble with movies like this that, though they are true to life and emotionally convincing, they leave an unpleasant aftertaste. Are we all that selfish and immature? Well, families are dangerous places and the majority of murders are committed by a member of the victim's families, but relatively speaking murder is a rare crime. Competition between mother and daughter for the same (trashy) lover is probably pretty rare also. When it does happen, a film about it is probably justified. Still, at the end we wind up with no-one to like, which rather muffles the impact of the story.