Mothers and daughters
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Mothers and daughters |
| Original title | Mother and Child |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2009 |
| length | 125 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rodrigo García |
| script | Rodrigo García |
| production |
Julie Lynn Lisa Maria Falcone |
| music | Ed Shearmur |
| camera | Xavier Pérez Grobet |
| cut | Steven Weisberg |
| occupation | |
| |
Mothers and Daughters is a 2009 American drama film directed by Rodrigo García .
action
The 50-year-old physiotherapist Karen became pregnant at the age of 14 and gave her daughter up for adoption immediately after the birth . Since then she has suffered from the loss of her daughter, writes letters to her, but never sends them, and keeps a diary about her.
Karen lives with her mother who is in need of care and who dies. She blocks contact with her colleagues or other people, and she is also hostile to the little daughter of her housekeeper. Only when she meets her new colleague Paco does she become more open to people and children. Karen and Paco get married and Paco encourages Karen to look for her daughter. She contacts the organization that arranged the adoption and leaves a letter for her daughter.
Karen's daughter Elizabeth has since made a career. She is a lawyer , lives independently and is ambitious and determined. She is immediately taken on as a new employee in Paul's respected law firm, even if her rather erratic lifestyle with numerous moves within the last ten years raises questions. She starts an affair with Paul. Without his knowledge, she also sleeps with her neighbor, whose wife is expecting a child. Although Elizabeth was sterilized at the age of 17, she becomes pregnant. She hides from Paul that she is expecting a child and moves to Los Angeles . Although Paul visits her there and offers her to care for her and the child, she does not accept his offer. Heavily pregnant, she decides to contact her mother and leaves a letter with photos at the adoption office at the time, which has been postponed. Elizabeth dies in childbirth.
Lucy and Joseph want a child, but Lucy is sterile. They decide to adopt, but then split up because Joseph would rather have his own child. The mother of the adoptive child, in turn, decides not to release the child shortly after the birth. Desperate, Lucy receives a message from the adoptive agency that a girl is eligible for adoption - the late Elizabeth's baby. Lucy adopts the child.
A year later, an employee of the adoption office finds Elizabeth's misplaced letter. Karen is informed, who finally receives two photos of her daughter, but also has to put up with the death of her daughter in desperation. She is given permission to see her grandchild - and finds in disbelief that Lucy lives on the same street as her. Only now can she make peace with the past. She puts Elizabeth's photos on her bedside table and turns off the light.
production
Mothers and Daughters , which was filmed in Los Angeles from January 2009 , had its world premiere on September 14, 2009 at the Toronto International Film Festival . On January 23, 2010 the film was shown at the Sundance Film Festival . It was released in US cinemas on May 7, 2010, and the film opened in Germany on April 28, 2011.
criticism
Variety praised the film as a very understandingly watched and exceptionally well-played ensemble film, exactly what the title promises. Cinemablend found that the film had shockingly little to say about each of the storylines. The film changes from one melodramatic plot level to the next and cannot build believable characters. The film only develops into a second-rate "tear-depressor" in its course.
Cinema described the film as “over-constructed relationship chaos. […] Director García wants to tell a lot, but gets lost in unnecessary ramifications and kitchen psychological clichés: A child who grows up without a mother can later only become a cold-hearted fright, true happiness for women is only possible with a child's blessing. A little too much mallet at once. Conclusion: Star-studded drama of great feelings, crammed with conflicts, but redundant and ineffective in the long run ”.
Awards
Mothers and Daughters received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Deauville American Film Festival in France.
Samuel L. Jackson was named Best Supporting Actor at the 2011 Image Awards .
Web links
- Mothers and daughters in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for mothers and daughters . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , December 2010 (PDF; test number: 124 880 K).
- ↑ "an insightfully observed and exceptionally acted ensemble piece precisely about what the title suggests" Cf. Variety.com ( Memento of the original from April 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ "shockingly little to say about any of the convoluted stories at its center [...] the movie shifts from one melodramatic story to the next, trying in vain to build believable character arcs [...] turning into merely a second-rate tearjerker in the." process. “ See cinemablend.de
- ↑ See cinema.de
