Review of Mother and Child (2009) by Clayton W — 15 Dec 2010

Mother and Child has a tender melancholy that reminded me of Hereafter. It's a beautiful, well-paced exploration of one of the most important relationships in a person's life (see the title). The film is unflinchingly honest; these aren't sparkling, too-good-to-be-true family affairs. The relationships here are messy, fragile, or nonexistent. It's a brave look at what it means to be a parent, to willingly give up that role, or to have that possibility denied you.

The lovely screenplay is in talented hands with the assembled cast. Annette Bening is stunning and utterly affecting as a woman whose life has been defined by the guilt and loss she feels after giving up her newborn daughter at the age of fourteen. Bening delivers a beautiful portrait of a woman learning to cope, and then to live and embrace what she has instead of simply mourning what she's lost or never known. Her transformation - the sense of completeness she radiates in the film's final scenes - is wonderful to behold.

Naomi Watts is similarly effective as the fiercely independent woman who has no family, but also lacks the desire to have one. Her journey into vulnerability reveals a truth about her as well as an understanding about what her mother must have gone through to give her up when she was born. It's another moving performance.

Also like Hereafter, the film does a fine job of interweaving three seemingly unconnected stories. While the common thread in Hereafter was death, Mother and Child centers on the world of adoption, and what it means to life as a family. It's an interesting, refreshing take on the family drama, and a moving meditation on what it means to be a parent.