6 facets of mother-daughter relationships (movies 25–29b/29)

Movies directed by women

(25) “Lost and Delirious” by Lea Pool (Canada, 2001)

Great direction, images, and music
Excellent personages, dialogues, and gender content

“A hymn to teenage idealism and hormones” (Roger Ebert)
The usual Lea Pool’s family situations — difficult but crucial mother-daughter relationships and absent fathers — play a role in the background

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 5,4
Metascore 5,3
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,0
IMDB 6,9
Average critics 6,5
Average public 7,5

Cast: Piper Perabo, Jessica Pare, Jackie Burroughs
Directed by Lea Pool
Written by Judith Thompson
Music by Robyn Schulkowsky
Cinematography by Jeanne Lapoirie
Film Editing by Michel Arcand

(26) “Dirty God” by Sacha Polak (The Netherlands, 2019)

Good direction, images, gender content, minority presence, and message
Excellent music and expression

The situations in which this young and once beautiful but now monstrous looking woman has to go through every day are so awful that you really wonder where she gets the strength to survive.
But what makes the story even more painful (!!!) is the stupidity of the world around her, of her world… At the end of the day, it might just be this hopeless stupidity that makes her unbreakable

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 7,4
Metascore 7,5
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,2
IMDB 6,4
Average critics 7,5
Average public 6,3

Cast: Vicky Knight, Katherine Kelly, Eliza Brady-Girard
Director: Sacha Polak
Writers: Sacha Polak, Susie Farrell
Music by Rutger Reinders
Cinematography by Ruben Impens
Film Editing by Sander Vos

(27) “Aurora Borealis” by Marta Meszaros (Hungary, 2017)

Great personages, images, music, minority presence, and message
Excellent script, direction, and gender content

A movie that shows you how the past cannot be untangled.
Moving without any false note, it leaves you wondering what if it had happened to you… for even if it was another time, it’s still happening at this very moment somewhere in the world

IMDB 7,3

Original title: Északi fény

Cast: Mari Töröcsik, Ildikó Tóth, Franciska Töröcsik
Director: Márta Mészáros
Writers: Zoltán Jancsó, Márta Mészáros
Cinematography by Piotr Sobocinski Jr.
Film Editing by Annamaria Szanto

(28) “The Second Mother” by Anna Muylaert (Brazil, 2015)

Good personages, gender content, minority representation, message, and expression
Excellent script and direction
Top images

A pearl of a movie, light, delightful, and full of palpable tensions

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore 8,2
Roger Ebert 7,5
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 8,6
IMDB 7,8
TMDB 8,1
Average critics 7,9
Average public 8,2

Original title: Que Horas Ela Volta?

Cast: Regina Casé, Helena Albergaria, Michel Joelsas
Director: Anna Muylaert
Writer: Anna Muylaert
Music by Vitor Araújo , Fábio Trummer
Cinematography by Barbara Alvarez
Film Editing by Karen Harley

(29a) “Mouthpiece” by Patricia Rozema (Canada, 2018)

Good dialogues, direction, and images
Excellent script and gender content
Top personages and message

A moving eulogy to mothers… but also more than that: the daughter is played by two actresses, not for a split-personality touch but to forge a mirror to the rich and complex person that was their mother… An emotionally rich movie

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore 7,3
Roger Ebert 8,8
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,6
IMDB 6,2
Average critics 8,0
Average public 6,9

Cast: Amy Nostbakken, Norah Sadava, Maev Beaty
Director: Patricia Rozema
Writers: Amy Nostbakken, Patricia Rozema
Music by Amy Nostbakken
Cinematography by Catherine Lutes
Film Editing by Lara Johnston

(29b) M“Stockholm, Pennsylvania” by Nikole Beckwith (USA, 2015)

First Feature

Good dialogues, images, and music
Excellent script, personages, and direction
Top gender content, message, and expression

A girl who has been kidnapped at a very young age and has spent all of her childhood with her abductor is suddenly ‘freed’ (now aged 22) and returns to her parents who are total strangers to her… She is lost and feels completely abandoned. Her mother who has lost her once realizes that she’s losing her a second time…
SPOILER ahead! To get her daughter back, the mother recreates the condition of dependence and attachment that the abductor had created in the first place in order to develop in her daughter a second Stockholm syndrome.
Great acting!

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 4,6
Metascore 4,7
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 6,0
IMDB 6,0
TMDB 5,4
Critics average 4,7
Audience average 5,8

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Cynthia Nixon, Jason Isaacs
Director: Nikole Beckwith
Writer: Nikole Beckwith
Music by Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, Brian McOmber
Cinematography by Arnaud Potier
Film Editing by Joe Klotz