Mother and Child

Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Cast: Ricardo Darin, Pablo Rago, Soledad Villamil and Javier Godino
Releasing in cinemas: 27 May 2010
Rated: MA 15+

Mother and Child restores faith in quality cinema after the recent round of popcorn theatre. The film features superb performances from the whole cast; especially Naomi Watts at her very best, and backed by an equally impressive Annette Bening. It’s the brainchild of writer/director Rodrigo Garcia, who was behind the noteworthy Nine Lives, and is produced by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (21 Grams) with Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) somewhere in the wings. Such a team assures inspired results.

Garcia is typically concerned with women under stress. In this case, the two central women are a mother and daughter separated at childbirth with profound effect on each. The opening shots in the film cleverly explain the situation in a kind of cinematic shorthand - Karen, at fourteen, finds herself pregnant with Elizabeth and determines to give her up for adoption.

Later in life, both bear the emotional scars. Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) is ambitious and determined. We meet her in a job interview with a legal firm’s executive Paul (Samuel L. Jackson). His questions bring out her brilliant but brittle unemotional character. She’s daunting to watch in action.

Elizabeth doesn’t shirk sex as a method of getting what she wants in life, first with Paul then the guy next door. In one ironically humorous moment, she steps out of her knickers hiding them in the wife’s bedroom drawer before she makes love to her unsuspecting neighbour.

Karen (Annette Bening) is single now and in her early fifties. She cares for her ailing mother Nora (Eileen Ross) while working as a physiotherapist. Karen, soured with life, gives her housemaid Sofia (Elpidia Carrillo) and her little daughter a tough time. Even when she takes interest in a gentle soul at work, Paco (Jimmy Smits), her snarly attitude would scare off a lesser mortal. Haunted by the loss of her child, and unable to forgive herself, Karen writes endless apologetic but unsent letters.

The web of fate weaves around Karen and Elizabeth in convoluted ways, but then a third plot is thrown into the mix. Lucy (Kerry Washington), a successful pastry cook, is unable to have a child and wants to adopt one. Linking all three plot lines is an adoption centre run by Sister Joanne (Cherry Jones). Here Lucy meets with pregnant Ray (Shareeka Epps) who’s looking for a suitable home for her baby. A demanding young lady, Ray puts proposing families through the third degree but seems satisfied with Lucy and her husband.

You anticipate the stories will finally come together. Rodrigo Garcia manipulates the threads of all three plots to mesh in the concluding scenes, however it feels contrived and weakens the otherwise excellent picture. Garcia’s forte remains the performances he obtains from his actors, and for that alone the movie is worth seeing. Admittedly the director lets the film run at it’s own, sometimes languid, pace.

Annette Bening (The Women) tackles the difficult role with aplomb, ranging from sour spinsterish prickly to cheerfully exuberant, and making the most of every scene. As the terrifyingly self-assured attorney, Naomi Watts (21 Grams) marks her place early in the proceedings with the job interview by Samuel L. Jackson (Iron Man 2), himself in a subdued role for a change. Kerry Washington (The Last King of Scotland) also provides a warm characterisation.

Sister Joanne is played with delicate integrity by Cherry Jones (Ocean's 12) in another outstanding performance. Supporting cast members don’t let the side down. Jimmy Smits, Elpidia Carrillo, Shareeka Epps and David Morse all strongly contribute. As Lucy’s sharp-tongued mother, S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order) in one terrific scene gives a spirited tongue lashing to her daughter. A wonderful cast is assembled here.

Mother and Child might be described as an adult chick flick, but it should surely win the hearts of a discerning female audience.

John Bale