The Mother (2003)

A grandmother has a passionate affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.

Director:

Roger Michell

Writer:

Hanif Kureishi

Stars:

Anne Reid, Peter Vaughan, Anna Wilson-Jones

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 11 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anne Reid	...	May
Peter Vaughan	...	Toots
Anna Wilson-Jones	...	Helen
Daniel Craig	...	Darren
Danira Govich	...	Au Pair
Harry Michell	...	Harry
Rosie Michell	...	Rosie
Izabella Telezynska	...	Polish Cleaner
Steven Mackintosh	...	Bobby
Cathryn Bradshaw	...	Paula
Carlo Kureishi	...	Jack
Sachin Kureishi	...	Jack
Simon Mason	...	Man in Tate Gallery
Oliver Ford Davies	...	Bruce
Jonah Coombes	...	Estate Agent

Storyline

Toots and May's marriage is one of Toots being dependent on his wife. Shortly after Toots and May arrive in London to visit with their grown children Bobby and Paula and their respective children, Toots falls ill and dies. Toots' death brings to the surface the underlying strain that has always existed between May and both of her two children, and the unhappy lives they have all led. Now specifically with Paula, May is disapproving of her relationship with a construction worker named Darren. Not only does May think his occupation makes him beneath Paula, he's also a married man. Darren is in an unsatisfying marriage but doesn't want to leave it if only because of his son. Even after May gets to know and like Darren, she still encourages Paula to break up with him. The issue is is that May herself has fallen in love with Darren, the two who begin a sexual relationship. What will ultimately happen between May and Darren also depends on Darren, who is floundering in his own life and ...

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Plot Keywords:

death | poetry class | death of husband | cocaine | heart attack | 

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Taglines:

It can take a lifetime to feel alive.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content including graphic images of sexuality, language and brief drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures Classics [United States]

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 November 2003 (UK)

Also Known As:

A Mãe

Filming Locations:

Goldhawk Road Underground Station, Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£1,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$79,560 (USA) (28 May 2004)

Gross:

$1,062,253 (USA) (5 November 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBC Films, Free Range Films, Renaissance Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

May mentions that her daughter's flat is located on Benbow Road. This is the name of the real street in London where the location of the daughter's flat is situated.

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Goofs

When May is telling Darren about her affair and just before she asks him to take her to bed, Darren does not have a carpenter's pencil in his ear. When we see him a few moments later, the pencil is over his ear.

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Quotes

Paula: Is there anything I'm good at? What do I want to do? What do I like? Well, I'm going to find out.
May: Paula, is there anything I can do?
Paula: Ah, at last! God! Yeah! I've been thinking about it for a few days actually. I think... I think I would like to hit you. Do you understand that?
May: [matter of factly] Yes. Now?
[Paula nods affirmatively]

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Connections

Features The Big Knights (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Bodyshock
Composed by Adam Laschinger
© Mother Productions Ltd

User Reviews

Shockingly Intelligent

A fierce, shockingly intelligent piece of work from the gifted British writer Hanif Kureishi who wrote "My Beautiful Laundrette", (this is the best thing he's done since then). It's about intelligent people whose lives don't add up to much. They've squandered what they have been given and are largely empty vessels. The only character on screen who is alive is the mother of the title yet she feels dead inside until a rough handyman shows her some affection and awakens her to the joys of sex. He has his own motives but Kureishi treats him with a good deal of compassion. This is a film in which people and places feel familiar, where characters exist beyond the confines of the screen. In some respects it's a bit like "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" but it's an altogether tougher piece of work. The director, Roger Michell, allows scenes to build instinctively. And it is beautifully acted.

As the eponymous mother Anne Reid betrays her wasted life in every gesture. There is not a false note in her extraordinarily lived-in performance, and that very fine actor Daniel Craig displays shadings to his character than even Kureishi hasn't tapped into. If the film strikes a false note it is, perhaps, in the character of the talentless daughter, caught up in a messy affair with the man her mother seduces (or should that be the other way round) and even messier life, but she is so well played by Cathryn Bradshaw she hooks you in nevertheless. The film is also extremely beautiful to look at (DoP Alwin Kuchler) and must rank, unhesitatingly, as the best British film of the year.