The Mother (2004)

Simply A Masterpiece

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The Mother is a very intelligent drama, one that would guarantee to have you talking, a taboo topic that isn't often visited. The question, how should someone when they're in advanced years, retired and had families behave? Should they put their slippers on and await the inevitable Nursing Home, or should they go wild, grabbing opportunities as they arise.The story is a complex one, but intelligent and thought provoking. The main thing i'm sure many will ask is, is May a good person or not? Do her feelings for Darren come from a good place, come from grief, or has a hidden passion burned away her entire life? I felt bad for Paula, a daughter slightly messed up, who's set to find out the worst possible news about the love of her life.Superb performances, Anne Reid is phenomenal as May, she totally steals the show with a powerhouse performance, where she displays passion and total apathy. Daniel Craig is also superb, you can totally believe in May falling for his character, handsome, care free, but all is not as it seems.Brilliant, and a reminder of how good the quality of film making is from The BBC, I ask though, why has this style of show vanished from our screens?Quality viewing, 9/10

This movie was extremely depressing. The characters were so cold. The mother, who is he main character, is everything but "motherly". OK, she was unhappy in her marriage and always put her husband and children first. Her husband dies. She then goes to visit her son and meets this hunk who is sleeping with her daughter and ends up sleeping with him. Until this part, the movie is all right. Not excellent, but it can be watched. The guy is charming and who can blame her? OK it's not very motherly to sleep with your daughter's lover but let's blame that on the shock of losing her husband. She becomes totally obsessed with the guy. I think this is the part where I started to dislike the movie. She's always there wanting to please him in an "old fashioned way" with snacks while he is working on her son's house (I guess this is the only thing she ever learned to do), as if it was the only way she could get his attention. The guy obviously is not very interested (actually, it seems more like he considered sleeping with her a charitable activity) and instead of being insulted by that, she continues to beg him to go to go to bed with her and to be nice to her when he becomes very abusive. "I want to please you", she tells him in a desperate way while he is insulting her very badly. What outraged me in this movie, is the utter lack of self-respect the mother has for herself. She tells Craig something like "I am just a shapeless lump" the first time they sleep together. This movie is an insult to women kind. If it had been me, I would have bought myself a little object that would have brought me the same satisfaction and a lot less emotional pain... :)

The Mother is a solid and well made film that tackles a taboo subject in a relationship movie context. It revolves around its title character, a grandmother, getting involved in her daughters affairs (well, that's one way of putting it.) and the fall out of her actions.To me, these sorts of films (of the indie melodrama kind) are probably best used as a showcase for the talent involved, a vehicle for actors and directors to make an interesting film, a film that would receive high critical praise, but not a film that people would fall in love with so much as to watch on a regular basis. To that end, The Mother succeeds very well, the acting and its partly controversial subject matter making it stand out from the competition.Though I found it compelling viewing, especially from an acting standpoint, I would have liked a better ending to lift the film to an even higher level, but taken as it is, if you want a slow burning, well acted, family drama, this will do rather nicely.

I tuned in to this movie with the hope of discovering some overlooked gem, a character-study dealing with family relations and dealing with an under-represented subject matter: romance and sexuality among older individuals. Instead, unfortunately, I was left feeling as if I'd just watched a remake of "A Doll's House" written by Darren Star. The performances are strong, but the pacing is excruciatingly slow and the characters are thoroughly unappealing -- mainly selfish, self-absorbed, petty and bitter. The plot concerns a mature (age-wise, anyway), recent widow who falls in love with her neurotic daughter's sleazy, married boyfriend. The widow, feeling she's lead an "unlived" life, is rejuvenated by her much younger lover while the daughter, who feels mum never encouraged her as a child, struggles with the same man who's reluctant to leave his wife. It all comes out, of course, and daughter reacts violently (a disturbing scene) and tosses mum out. Now, I suppose there's intended symbolism with the lover being a handyman renovating the son's house -- but it seems off that it would be the son's house and neither the sister/daughter's or mum's. Anyway, a true clock-ticker and, as with Ibsen, we end with mum leaving her home for good.