The Mother Reviews
January 11, 2018
Quite apart from her unclad courage in the sex scenes, 62-year-old Anne Reid conveys the dilemmas of her age and her hesitant path to liberation with extraordinary and moving subtlety.
April 29, 2009
All of it is ingeniously drawn to a close with an unexpected ending that is so powerful in its simplicity.
August 7, 2008
Full Review
| Original Score: 1/5
March 1, 2007
Isn't very exciting or involving.
December 30, 2006
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
November 28, 2004
A bold, challenging performance by Anne Reid.
October 15, 2004
...extremely well-played in individual scenes. But much of the film feels counterintuitive to the general thrust of the narrative.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
October 7, 2004
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
September 17, 2004
Complex characters, constrained emotions, an intelligent screenplay and a candid, audacious examination of the burgeoning sexuality of a woman in her 60s.
Original Score: 3/4
September 17, 2004
This is a very solid little film that would be perfect to those of you who are beyond tired of this summer's attack of mindless entertainment.
Original Score: 4/5
September 7, 2004
...hard to watch but it as honest as it is emotionally grueling.
Original Score: A-
August 27, 2004
This British drama gets increasingly lurid as it goes. And its handling of risque material is sensationalistic, even exploitative.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
August 27, 2004
Director Roger Michell shoots in stately poses that are artful to the point of distraction.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
August 26, 2004
A troubling film about the need to be wanted.
Original Score: B
August 7, 2004
There is in The Mother a rich understanding of where old age takes you. Along with the myth that seniors don't have sex drives, the film dispels a larger one: that the years bring wisdom.
August 6, 2004
It's a superb character study, with veteran actress Anne Reid delivering a heartbreaking and curiously liberating performance.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
July 26, 2004
Anne Reid gives a special performance.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
July 23, 2004
It challenges you to figure out how you feel about the people on the screen -- emotionally, intellectually, morally.
Original Score: 5/5
July 22, 2004
Gets down to dramatic business, transcending age and gender considerations to make May a poster woman for the philosophy that everyone's life path is their own business to determine.
Original Score: 4/5
July 9, 2004
The Mother never fails to engage.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4