Mia Madre (2015)

Margherita, a director in the middle of an existential crisis, has to deal with the inevitable and still unacceptable loss of her mother.

Director:

Nanni Moretti

Writers:

Nanni Moretti (story), Valia Santella (story)

Stars:

Margherita Buy, John Turturro, Giulia Lazzarini

12 wins & 25 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Margherita Buy	...	Margherita
John Turturro	...	Barry Huggins
Giulia Lazzarini	...	Ada
Nanni Moretti	...	Giovanni
Beatrice Mancini	...	Livia
Stefano Abbati	...	Federico
Francesco Acquaroli
Anna Bellato	...	Attrice
Lorenzo Gioielli	...	Interprete
Enrico Ianniello	...	Vittorio
Toni Laudadio	...	Produttore (as Tony Laudadio)
Tatiana Lepore	...	Segretaria di edizione
Pietro Ragusa	...	Bruno
Monica Samassa	...	Medico
Vanessa Scalera	...	Infermiera

Storyline

These are hard days for Margherita, who is going through a very difficult period in her life. On a professional level first, the middle-aged film director, has started wondering whether the committed movies she has been making are really an actual reflection of the world she lives in ; on top of this, she is in conflict not only with her crew but also, and primarily, with Barry Huggins, a well-known American actor of Italian origin, who proves awfully bad and uncontrollable. On the personal level, things do not get any better - it could even be said they are worse. Margherita has just left her life partner and she has become unable to relate to her teenage daughter. As for her mother, she is now seriously ill and her doctor tries to prepare her brother and her for the worst. Which is unacceptable to the weakened woman who can find salvation only in denial of reality. Will she manage to face up to the facts and to come to terms with herself?

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Plot Keywords:

death | factory | actor | mother daughter relationship | film director | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Australia] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Italy France Germany

Language:

Italian English French

Release Date:

26 August 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Margherita

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

EUR7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$34,098, 28 August 2016

Gross USA:

$303,002

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,723,656

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sacher Film, Fandango, Le Pacte

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (as Dolby 5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When writing the script, Nanni Moretti used what he had written during his mother's sickness.

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Connections

References Wings of Desire (1987)

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Soundtracks

Charisma
Written and performed by Cinzia Donti and Isabella Colliva

User Reviews

Moretti's Magnum Opus

Nanni Moretti is an accomplished filmmaker who won many awards as an actor, writer, director, producer across Europe for 4 decades, and a few in South America. He is a Cannes Film Festival favourite and won the 2015 Prize of the Ecumenical Jury with this fine film "Mia Madre" (aka My Mother) who was inspired partly by the recent death of his mother.

It was thus with immense pleasure that I was able to attend his TIFF first screening in his presence with an interpreter (even though his command of English is quite good especially understanding) and hear first hand a few details from the master.

First in terms of prizes, his 2001 film "La stanza del figlio" (aka The Son's Room) seems to be a contender for his masterpiece yet even though it is an extraordinary film, I can think of other films who dealt with the subject of losing a child much better, namely two in the same year with riveting "In the Bedroom" and even better Australian "Lantana", and later "Rabbit Hole (2010)" with Australian actress Nicole Kidman.

For "Mia Madre", we explore the dying and death of a parent but this time, this movie sets itself apart. It is dark and light with humour, showing scenes with conflicted and strong characters with multiple layers, exploring emotional and intellectual depth. It weaves between multiple layers of reality and meta-reality, time, thoughts, dreams, desires. It goes beyond death, before, in between... It is beautiful!

Moretti speaks of his inability to tell his actors to "be besides the character" (as opposed to being completely immersed in them) although that is what he would like to tell them. He feels too many acting awards go to people who become characters and lose themselves. He also mentions that he is closer to the distraught Margherita character (played by marvellous Margherita Buy who is a accomplished actress to say the least) than to the brother he plays in the film and wishes he had a better handle of the dying mother situation in real life. These small details show a level of maturity and complexity of thought with a crisp vision and appreciation. A non-assuming but assured wisdom can be felt from the man and the magnus opus I just saw.

Margherita's character is a director like Moretti so the piece is self-reflective in many ways and involves an interplay of many realities, possibilities and problems to deal with at the same time. Then he brings John Turturro to play the role of Barry Huggins who is a now barely able to remember a line actor of old fame and prestige with a sharp tongue and Hollywood arrogance. This creates some comic relief and hilarious scenes but also serve to contrast the work problems with the life problems and the miscommunication and misunderstanding of everyone.

The movie is a dream of sort, but a vivid one. Moretti's life distress gave us his Pièce de résistance.

Thank you for sharing. Thank you for caring.

Italy / France 2015 | 106 mins | Toronto International Film Festival | Italian (English subtitles) + some English