My Mother

Nanni Moretti has come a long way portraying Italy - mixing the inner, often neurotic, workings of a person with the harsh clash of Reality. In this movie, reality itself is the world of fiction: Margherita Buy plays the director of a movie about the working crisis that has been tearing apart Italy's employment situation for years now. The set is a stressful environment which recalls the one described by Truffaut's "Day for Night" and adds to the emotional exhaustion of the director Buy, facing her mother's illness. Whereas "The Son's Room" found its characters coming to terms with loss as a matter of fact, this movie rather deals with the whole painful process that leads to loss: the slow steps that lead to the acknowledgement of what is inevitable. The soul-wrenching hospital scenes and the numerous flashbacks from Buy's family memories are cleverly (and thankfully) counterbalanced with the comedic, hilarious traits of John Turturro, the main star or better even, a proper "diva", in Buy's (and subsequently, Moretti's) movie. You'll found yourself cracking up with laughter while that small tear on your cheek hasn't dried yet, and both moments are filmed in a superb way. Nanni Moretti himself plays a role as Margherita Buy's brother: both actors have a similar style and it's great to finally see them working together. They both speak in an extremely calm manner, as if they were trying to explain some really obvious truth to the viewers and to other characters; both have a history of playing awkward, sometimes neurotic, fragile people who will eventually burst out, only to quickly apologize in their usual calm and polite manner. Those who are familiar with Moretti's work will recognize some of his motifs: Rome settings, loud singing in cars, deadpan statements on the inability to work in a relationship, parental confrontations. Overall a very good movie that fits well in Moretti's recent history.

"Mia Madre" is the sort of picture you might see being made in Europe…but it's far from the sort of movie you'd expect from Hollywood. After all, a film about a middle-aged woman who is nearing an emotional collapse is not big box office. And, it's certainly not the sort of picture the target audience of 16-30 would rush to the theaters to see. However, if you are patient and give it a chance, you're bound to get a lot out of this Italian film from director Nanni Moretti (who also co-wrote and co-stars in the movie).

When the story begins, Margherita (Margherita Bay) is having a very tough time in life. She's directing a movie, just separated from her husband and is dealing with her mother's impending death. To make things worse, the picture has an American star (John Turturro) who is having trouble delivering his lines in Italian…and Margherita is far from patient with the man. What follows is the progression of events in Margherita's life…and the feeling that sooner or later, she's going to snap. After all, to make all this even worse she's middle-aged…a time which is tough on all of us…and a time of change. I should know…I am at that time in my life as well! And, I guess this is why I could relate to Margherita and her story so well.

While I wouldn't rush to the theaters to see a film like Mia Madre, it's perfect to see such a 'little' film at home on your television. It is not a sweeping saga and doesn't need the big screen treatment… which is great since the movie is new to Netflix this month. It also, incidentally, received a nearly eight minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival…so I am apparently not the only one who liked it and recommend you see it!

A film director (Margherita Buy), in the middle of trying to do a film, has to deal with the fact that her mother is dying.

The film is inspired by the death of Nani Moretti's own mother, and we can assume that the Buy character represents him, as a movie director dealing with a difficult production, a temperamental and looney actor (John Turturro), and a terminally-ill mother she keeps telling herself is going to recover.

Anyone who has been through this life-goes-on in the face of tragedy scenario will relate to the director trying to deal with her ex-husband, her daughter, her boyfriend, her mother, and the movie - all at the same time. It's a very human story. Unfortunately you can't pick when a crisis will occur, or expect them to come one at a time.

Wonderful acting, especially Buy as her character, Margherita, tries to keep it all together as her leading man, an American who knows Italian, can't remember his lines, the extras all look like movie stars when she asked for normal everyday people, all the while visiting her mother at the hospital and being in denial about her illness.

Very good film.

Moretti tells a heart-wrenching story without using overly dramatic tones, and builds around it other story lines, which all share the theme of people coming to terms with reality. The main storyline is really moving and real, and I could totally relate to it - what I like about this film is that it is autobiographical, but you do not need to be a world-famous film director to relate to it. Through Margherita, Moretti at times will fearlessly show you the everyday routine details of both his professional and personal life, totally demystifying his world-famous-film-director persona. I really liked Margherita Buy's acting; John Turturro has a very difficult role to play, because he must continually switch between acting and meta-acting, also switching between English and Italian, but he pulls it off nicely. The last 10 seconds of this movie are the perfect ending.

Fifteen years after having made an acclaimed film about losing a child, Nanni Moretti now tackles the subject of losing a parent. 'Mia Madre' is a thinly veiled autobiographical film: Moretti's mother died while he was making his previous film, the comedy 'Habemus Papam'. To emphasize how strongly 'Mia Madre' is based on real events, the lead character in the film is a director, and the name of the mother (Ada) is very similar to Moretti's own mother's name (Agata).

There are differences too. The director is a woman, not a man, and she is directing a serious social drama, not a comedy. While she has to give all her attention to the whimsical star of her drama, an American actor played by John Turturro, she has trouble accepting the truth of her mother's deteriorating health. Her mother simply cannot die now, she tells the doctor who breaks the sad news, because she still has so many things to do.

Moretti has done a perfect job in showing how the death of a mother makes you go through an emotional roller-coaster. Margherita, the lead character, seems to be able to cope with a lot, including her lead actor making a mess of his role, but she breaks down when she wakes up at night to find her apartment flooded. It's only after such a calamity that Margherita is able to grieve. Actress Margherita Buy gives a very touching and subtle performance as the caring daughter on the one hand and determined director on the other hand.

Turturro's role as the self-indulgent but incapable actor gives the film some comic relief, a welcome change from the emotional scenes dealing with the dying mother. Also, Moretti has inserted quite a few scenes which seem to divert from reality: sometimes you realize after a while that you're watching a dream-like scene that not really happened, but gives you some insight in what Margherita thinks or feels.

'Mia Madre' is a film about strong emotions, but it never aims at cheap tear jerking effects. Moretti perfectly knows how to deal with death.