Ma mère

The Italian movie Mia Madre (2015) was shown in the U.S. with its original title. It was co-written and directed by Nanni Moretti. It stars Margherita Buy as movie director Margherita. Margherita is directing a film in which noted U.S. actor Barry Huggins (John Turturro) is the protagonist. Margherita's mother Ada is portrayed by Giulia Lazzarina. Director Moretti has cast himself in the supporting role of Giovanni, Margherita's brother.

Margherita has problems that come from many directions. Her mother is dying--that's really the crux of the plot. She and her brother do their best for her, but it's a slow, downhill battle.

Margherita breaks up with a long-time lover, her daughter from her marriage is having trouble in school, and Barry Huggins is a self-centered jerk. Huggins is a star, and he acts like one. (In the movie, he speaks Italian well, which may be true in real life as well.) I got the sense in the movie that he was a celebrity, but not as great a celebrity as he would like to be. In any event, he is making Margherita's life miserable.

Margherita can't just drop everything to be with her mother. She has a film to direct, and it's not going well. She's in an impossible bind.

Director Moretti gave himself an important supporting role. In fact, the one fault I found with Mia Madre was that Moretti has a long scene with his boss that makes no sense in the context of the film. However, that small self-indulgence is negligible compared to all the great moments Moretti gives us.

Turturro is brilliant. His job is to make everyone--including the audience--dislike him. He does that wonderfully. Margherita Buy is an absolutely brilliant actor. Her emotions are at the surface, and her face portrays each emotion with unbelievable precision. She is the Italian Meryl Streep . (Or Meryl Streep is the American Margherita Buy.) Even if this weren't a great movie, it would be worth seeing just to watch Margherita Buy act. However, it truly is a great movie, and I highly recommend it.

This is one of the rare films that shows three generations of women, all of whom are strong and intelligent. That's another reason to watch Mia Madre.

We saw this film at the acclaimed Dryden Theatre in the George Eastman Museum in Rochester. I don't know if it will go into general release. It's certainly worth seeking out. (Every movie is better seen on the large screen than the small screen, but Mia Madre will work well on a small screen.)

For reasons I don't understand, Mia Madre has a modest 6.9 IMDb rating. This is one of those situations where I say, "Did those people see the same movie I saw?" Find it, watch it, and then judge for yourself.