GOODNIGHT MOMMY. 2014. PRODUCED BY ULRICH SEIDL. DIRECTED BY SEVERIN FIALA AND VERONIKA FRANZ. STARRING SUSANNE WUEST AND ELIAS AND LUKAS SCHWARZ. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
Ah Jaysis. This is a horrible film. I didn't say terrible, mind you. I just meant it's horrible to watch, especially if you're in any way squeamish. Which I am, kind of. It was Austria's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Academy Awards, and it was a big hit at the Irish Film Institute's 2015 Horrorthon, so plenty of other people obviously liked it, haha.
It's definitely an interesting story. Ten-year-old twins Elias and Lukas (those are their real names!) have a bit of a dilemma on their hands. They live in a big posh house in the countryside miles from anywhere with their mum, who's separated from their dad. Their mum's been in an accident and has to keep her face swathed in bandages just like the other kind of mummy. You know, the Ancient Egyptian kind?
As if that wasn't creepy enough for the two lads, it seems like Mommy is behaving weirdly, not like their mum at all. She's being mean and unreasonable towards the two tow-headed little scamps. This leads the twins to believe that Mommy isn't really Mommy at all under those bandages, but an impostor. They set out to prove to themselves that this is truly the case. The way in which they decide to do this is violent and cruel and stomach-turning. I can't say I agreed with it, personally speaking. I'd probably have opted for a more law-abiding way, myself.
The cinema audience (I got free tickets for this through default, the sweetest word in the English language as Homer Simpson might say!) were all ooh-ing and aah-ing every time the violence perpetrated by the boys against their mother escalated another notch or two. Some of the twins' actions were pretty nasty. It's not nice to think of kiddies behaving so unacceptably to a parent, any more than it is to witness a parent's cruelty to a child.
The film left me pretty conflicted. I didn't like Mommy, for a kick-off. She was cold and distant and even emotionally and physically abusive towards her sons. But on the other hand, what her sons did to her was horrible. I liked the twins, because they were skinny and sweet and just two vulnerable confused little boys who needed a parent to be there for them, but then they went and behaved like monsters to their Mum who, impostor or not, was still a woman. So if you find yourself taking sides, you may also find yourself chopping and changing your mind a bit before the movie's over.
I loved the scenery and the scenes of lashing rain, but I raised an eyebrow at the behaviour of the Red Cross people. Worthy cause or no worthy cause, if chuggers came into my home when I wasn't there and plonked their butts down at my table waiting for me to come home and give 'em money, well...! Still, if that's the European way, who am I to argue with the difference in cultures?
I was disappointed with what ultimately proved to be under Mommy's mask of bandages. Disappointed and baffled. Why exactly was she wearing the bandages again? And as for the twist, well, we all know that it's been done before. By an'other' movie. (That's a giant clue, by the way!) Maybe even a little better, perhaps?
The audience did not gasp in shock when the 'twist' was revealed, by the way, which leads me to believe that perhaps they'd seen it coming. One person I spoke to said that she'd been able to guess from signs given off at the start of the film what the twist was. For the record, I personally didn't guess, but I'm not famous for working out movie twists. Quite the opposite, in fact, heh-heh-heh.
I even found the film slow-moving and boring when I wasn't flinching at the violence. There were long periods when nothing much seemed to be happening and there were also scenes which I found vaguely confusing. Believe me, if I want to see a couple of mischievous wee 'uns getting up to no good for hours on end, I needn't look any farther than my own two little treasures...!
It's not all bad. The kids are great little actors, and so cute! In a couple of years' time, they'll be hanging around awards ceremonies dressed in little matching tuxes with long Justin Bieber-style hair and a million teenage girls baying for a sighting of 'em, you mark my words. They've got a big future in the acting world. If they were my kids, however, I'm not sure that I'd have given my
permission for them to act in such a violent film at such a young age. One has to wonder what effect that kind of thing has on impressionable young psyches, you know?
Okay, sorry, lecture over. I know that if kids weren't allowed to act in horror movies we wouldn't have films like THE EXORCIST and POLTERGEIST or even the HALLOWEEN movies. I'm sure you guys can name a bazillion more brilliant horror films in which kids figure largely. Still, I worry sometimes, though...!
The lullaby-singing was eerie and quite fitting, by the way, before I forget. Oh, and the cockroaches made my blood run cold. Would it surprise you to know that I'm not an insect person...?
The lullaby-singing was eerie and quite fitting, by the way, before I forget. Oh, and the cockroaches made my blood run cold. Would it surprise you to know that I'm not an insect person...?
I look forward (!) to seeing the movie's 'twist' turn up again in another film. Who knows where it'll show up next? It could be almost anywhere. Will I watch GOODNIGHT MOMMY again? Almost certainly not. In this particular instance, I really do think that once was enough.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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