A grandmother has a passionate affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.
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Character
Contemporary, grave, spare and classical in form.
- contemporarynostalgic
- gravecomic
- sparerichly built
- classical in formformally daring
- earnestironic
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“Is Anne Reid the best thing in The Mother?”
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“Is The Mother emotionally manipulative?”
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“Would a little humor have helped?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · Sep 20236/10
This is quite a tough film to watch. Not so much because of the subject matter, but because you just know there is an inevitability about the conclusion which is going to leave everyone damaged! Anne Reid is good as the eponymous character ("Mary") who loses her husband and finds that she just cannot go home. She spends her time between her son and his family and with her daughter and her young son. The former is having his house extended, and so has employed "Darren" (Daniel Craig) - who just happens to be the married boyfriend of her daughter "Paula" (Cathryn Bradshaw). Lonely and craving human companionship, "Mary" gradually becomes infatuated with this hunky tradesman, despite him being half her age, and he is all too willing to help her out. Obviously, her family find out and that's when it all goes awry. It's also when the plot heads full speed into melodrama. This already pretty dysfunctional family sees the wheels come off and the nuanced, emotional and sensitive elements are jettisoned for anger and an sense of the truly unpleasant and course develops. Reid and Craig have a couple of decent scenes together, but for the most part the remaining cast are all pretty lacklustre
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Cast
- Anne ReidMay
- Daniel CraigDarren
- Peter VaughanToots
- Steven MackintoshBobby
- Cathryn BradshawPaula
- Anna Wilson-JonesHelen
- Danira GovićAu Pair
- Izabella TelezynskaPolish Cleaner
- Oliver Ford DaviesBruce
- Jonah CoombesEstate Agent
Crew
- Roger MichellDirector
- Hanif KureishiWriter
- Alwin H. KüchlerDirector of Photography
- Jeremy SamsOriginal Music Composer
- Nicolas GasterEditor
- Kevin LoaderProducer
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