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List Price: $24.96 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 57999
Released: October 12, 2004 |
| Our Price: $37.95 |
| Used Price: $8.20 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Anne Reid stars as May, an ordinary grandmother from the North of England. When her husband dies on a family visit to London, she recedes into the background of her busy, metropolitan children's lives. Stuck in an unfamiliar city, far from home, May fears that she has become another invisible old lady whose life is more or less over. Until, that is, she embarks on a passionate affair with Darren (Daniel Craig), a man half her age who is renovating her son's house and sleeping with her daughter. Directed by Roger Michell (Notting Hill, Changing Lanes). Written by Academy Award® nominated writer Hanif Kureishi (Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for My Beautiful Launderette).
Description of The Mother:
The movies have their share of gray-haired men romancing young women, but the spectacle of a sexual relationship between an old woman and a young man is still exotic enough for The Mother to startle audiences. Newly widowed Anne Reid, sixtyish, finds herself disenchanted with her indifferent children, and drawn to a studly handyman (Daniel Craig, from Sylvia). The observant directorial hand of Roger Michell guides them through some brutally frank sex scenes, without ignoring the psychological mess that underlies it all. It comes as no surprise that this scenario springs from the mind of Hanif Kureishi, who's been poking at British propriety since My Beautiful Laundrette. The film offers no characters to actually like, which makes it a bitter course to navigate. But Anne Reid's gutsy performance, which carries zero trace of glamour, is certainly a bold venture that asks no pity. --Robert Horton
The Mother Reviews:
Beautifully Unpredictable 
2009-08-01 - Beautiful cinematography, excellent script, thoughtful, excellent acting, combined with understated direction offers a glimpse into a very profound reawakening of life.
Anne Reid delivers a brilliant performance as May, transforming from grandmother, mother and wife, to lover. She opens the film with her husband (played by Peter Vaughan), as dull and preoccupied. Her life appears to be lived `asleep at the wheel'.
The ensuing speed of her husband's unexpected death, the tremendous state of shock, and the subsequent `awakening' surpassed my description of `beautiful portrayed'. Daniel Craig delivers a complex performance as May's daughter's married lover Darren. He pulls off an even deeper character complexity with the ensuing love affair (older woman and a younger man). May and Darren are passionately, tastefully and believably depicted. May's adult children Bobby (Steven Mackintosh), and Paula (Cathryn Bradshaw) bring their characters to life.
The Mother (2003) is a beautiful film that would best be seen in a darkened cinema. Fortunately, it transfers well to DVD and the small screen with the huge perk of a selection choice of the director's comments that you can turn on for the second viewing. This DVD also contacts a `Featurette' containing short interviews with one of the actors, Daniel Craig, the director, Roger Michell and screenwriter, Hanif Kureishi.Roger Mitchell has it in him to direct great films, and he can add The Mother to his successes. Hanif Kureishi remains a genius at capturing interpersonal chemistry between characters through fantastic dialogue, which bleeds beyond the family into the `extended family and friends'.
One of the many examples of the unpredictably, beautiful cinematography slipped in when May was washing her face, after her 'awakening'. The camera films from below the glass sink through the air bubbles, viewing up to the surface, to May dunking her hands into the water to slash her face; an elegant metaphor.
This film pivots around a dramatic event tendering a slice of life, which felt true to me. I came away from The Mother with the feeling that brilliant flames can erupt into a seemingly sleeping life with the disheveled, unpredictable stuff of life ensuing.
Astonishing
2009-06-20 - A brilliant, brilliant movie. I can't heap sufficient praise on its every aspect. There's an intensity and honesty of Kureishi's script. The spartan sets, the camera switching between intimate details of faces, slippers, fumbling hands and domestic, cool lit rooms, especially from hall to the renovated conservatory; so elegant. The central dynamic between the mum,Anne Reid, daughter, Cathryn Bradshaw, and the lover of both, Dan Craig is one of the most enduring I've beheld. All are, as is aptly said by another reviewer, 'mired in dysfunction'. A profound event!
Very Well Wriiten Film 
2009-05-01 - As a fan of Daniel Craig, I bought this film based on his body of work (thanks IMDB). I vaguely remembered critics buzzing about this movie, especially around award season a few years ago.
Overall the performances among the three main characters were well done; made me uncomfortable a few times, but that is the nature of the story. Watching an older woman 'get in touch with her sexuality' would be difficult to direct, but Roger Michell made it seem natural.
Family Drama
2009-04-11 - Not often does a film evoke such memories of true family life. Moments of tenderness are outweighed by tension, secrets and bad behavior. A great commentary on the family experience behind closed doors. Anne Reid and Daniel Craig are fabulous (very bold, daring and erotic). Wonderfully written.
Fine condition, but somewhat expurgated version 
2008-04-13 - Arrived in "as new" shape, just as advertised by the seller. No gripes there. But, this version had been stripped of a particularly steamy scene (viewed in a previously rented DVD) which is one of the reasons that I had ordered a copy for myself. There was no indication that the DVD had been edited to remove scene(s).
Other than that, this is a particularly riveting story about family dynamics, including a sexually repressed senior family member who is widowed and who longs for male affection, thus upsetting the rest of the family. I recommend the movie, though I would recommend the full version even more, that is, if you are not easily "squeamed" by overt sexual performance.
