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DramaRomance

The Mother

- It can take a lifetime to feel alive.

A grandmother has a passionate affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.

Release Date : 2003-11-14

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : BBC FilmFree Range FilmsRenaissance Films

Production Country : United Kingdom

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Anne Reid

Character Name : May

Original Name : Anne Reid

Gender : Female

Daniel Craig

Character Name : Darren

Original Name : Daniel Craig

Gender : Male

Peter Vaughan

Character Name : Toots

Original Name : Peter Vaughan

Gender : Male

Steven Mackintosh

Character Name : Bobby

Original Name : Steven Mackintosh

Gender : Male

Cathryn Bradshaw

Character Name : Paula

Original Name : Cathryn Bradshaw

Gender : Female

Anna Wilson-Jones

Character Name : Helen

Original Name : Anna Wilson-Jones

Gender : Female

Danira Gović

Character Name : Au Pair

Original Name : Danira Gović

Gender : Male

Izabella Telezynska

Character Name : Polish Cleaner

Original Name : Izabella Telezynska

Gender : Female

Oliver Ford Davies

Character Name : Bruce

Original Name : Oliver Ford Davies

Gender : Male

Jonah Coombes

Character Name : Estate Agent

Original Name : Jonah Coombes

Gender : Male

Reviews

C

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2023-09-03

This is quite a tough film to watch. Not so much because of the subject matter, but because you just know there is an inevitability about the conclusion which is going to leave everyone damaged! Anne Reid is good as the eponymous character ("Mary") who loses her husband and finds that she just cannot go home. She spends her time between her son and his family and with her daughter and her young son. The former is having his house extended, and so has employed "Darren" (Daniel Craig) - who just happens to be the married boyfriend of her daughter "Paula" (Cathryn Bradshaw). Lonely and craving human companionship, "Mary" gradually becomes infatuated with this hunky tradesman, despite him being half her age, and he is all too willing to help her out. Obviously, her family find out and that's when it all goes awry. It's also when the plot heads full speed into melodrama. This already pretty dysfunctional family sees the wheels come off and the nuanced, emotional and sensitive elements are jettisoned for anger and an sense of the truly unpleasant and course develops. Reid and Craig have a couple of decent scenes together, but for the most part the remaining cast are all pretty lacklustre and the longer it goes on, the more desperate it seems to shock - for the sake of it. The age-gap relationship/sex storyline could have delivered something more here had director Roger Michell not just chickened out.