My Mother

"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!

Melodrama is low in the genre pecking order because of its emotional exaggerations and use of stereotyped characters, most of whom are women. In this sense, Mia Madre (2016) is a purely melodramatic exploration of emotions associated with the dying of a parent as seen through the eyes of a loving daughter. This would be unoriginal on its own, so the film weaves multiple relationships into the narrative, all of which are stressed to breaking point, with a few comedic touches to make the story bearable. This matrix of emotional turbulence is standard fare in the dying parent narrative, but Mia Madre has a fine sense of balance in blending laughter and tears.

Margherita is a single-minded Italian director trying to complete a film when she learns that her mother Ada is dying. She is also dealing with a failed marriage, a teenage daughter who needs mothering, and the need to visit Ada every day. Her brother quits his job to care for Ada but Margherita tries to keep her world intact. As a perfectionist, she is demanding on the set where filming is not going well because the leading man is hopeless. Her film is about an economic downturn, a failing factory and workers facing bleak times, sub-plot lines that mirror her own fractured life. It is a moving study of how a professional woman accustomed to being in control must deal with helplessness in the face of impending tragedy. It could easily have been self- indulgent except for the almost unnerving grace and dignity with which Ada deals with dying while those around her become increasingly frayed. Audience response will depend to a large extent on their empathy for, or experience of, these stages in the life journey.

In many respects the mother is the star of this film. While hers is the less demanding acting role, she is a portrait of what many of us want to imagine as the peaceful exit of a beloved parent. Margherita on the other hand traverses an emotional roller-coaster on which the shock of what is happening forces her to review the meaning of her life. The camera often dwells too long on moments of introspection but the performances of both principals are finely nuanced, emotionally rich and entirely believable. There are many reasons to praise this film, but in the main it is for audiences willing to vicariously experience a slow and dense melodrama about loss.

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.

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.

Director Nanni Moretti often stars in his own movies, frequently playing what seems to be only a thinly fictionalised version of himself. In 'Mia Madre', however, he has two alter egos, as he plays the brother of a film director, the excellent Marghertia Buy, who's busy with work, even as their mother is dying. The film is both a sensistive portrait of how we deal with terminal illness, and a revealing, and often hilarious, look at the business of film-making. John Turturro is the difficult American star of the film-within-a-film; the humour lies in Buy's reactions to his outrageous behaviour. I quite like most of Moretti's movies; but I think this one is my favourite.