Mothers and Daughters

This interesting mock documentary is playing at the Royal Cinema. I love this little down town theatre. It is nicely re-furbished and very comfortable. They always show top art films. The problem is that the cinema is not open in the daytime during the week. That means the only chance you have to see the excellent films is at night or once over the weekend. The films do not play continuously as in other theatres.

I must confess that I thought this was a documentary. It is not a great film but the subject matter was very gripping. Every mother and daughter will relate to some of the issues and at best will examine one’s own relationship with a daughter or mother.

Throughout the film we follow the story of three mothers and two of the daughters. Some of the lives are interconnected. The film does bounce back and forth telling us incidents of a mother or daughter. Sometimes we see the mother and daughter in conflict during communication. The jumping around and flitting from one story to another could be unsettling for many.

Mickie is a successful writer. She thrives on her fame and is totally self absorbed. She is artistic in her dress and life style. She goes to an anti-aging clinic. She has a party to celebrate her latest book. I found it interesting that all her guests were men. The men did nothing but argue and in my opinion the dinner was a disaster. Her daughter was also an interesting study. She was also a writer. I found her very attractive but her makeup was always heavy and extreme. She claimed that she was very close to her mother but they did nothing but fight. In one argument she slaps her mother across the face. Mickie did not approve of her boyfriend. On this fact I could agree with the mother. When Mickie kicked her daughter out of the house she went to her boyfriend’s house. We meet a young man completely absorbed in his sports on TV and sloppily eating a pizza. He didn’t actively hear anything his girlfriend said to him. Probably many can elate to this character.

For some reason my heart went out to Brenda. She was a middle aged rather frumpy housewife. She appears to be stressed and nervous. She discovers that her husband has a new lady and in fact a baby. The daughter is a psychotherapist who excessively works out at the gym. She is supportive of her mother. Brenda is also having economic problems and doesn’t know how to solve the situation.

Celine is a touching character. She paints houses. During one job she discovers that the young single homeowner is pregnant. Celine offers her empathy and counseling. I found her to be very touching. Because of her own past experience Celine was able to relate to the problems of this young woman.

At one point one of the characters states, “I would say to daughters to forgive your mothers because they didn’t know what they were getting into.” I couldn’t help but wonder what my own daughter would have to say if interviewed and how I would come across as a mother. If nothing else it made me think. I could relate to many of the problems faced by the mothers and daughters even if their life story was not my own. I found it very interesting.