YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER - Irish Film Festival

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https://irishfilmfestival.com.au

Date Reviewed: 25/08/2022

“My intention with You Are Not My Mother was to create a frightening film that depicted an authentic coming of age experience while also tapping into the dark folk history we have in Ireland.”- Kate Dolan

You Are Not My Mother is billed as a psychological horror film and indeed it contains all the elements of this genre. However, it is also a film about dysfunctional families and their effect on young people. Here lies the film’s only problem. First time director Kate Dolan tries to give us both with some success. 

Dolan uses what was clearly a small budget to maximum advantage, relying more on atmosphere and performances rather than CGI. We’re drawn into this story because Dolan makes us care about the pain being inflicted on Char as an innocent teenager who now must figure out how to take care of a parent. She is in a tough spot not because her mother may be possessed by a supernatural thing; she’s in a tough spot because her mother is behaving in a bizarre, inexplicable fashion, and that is more unnerving than heads spinning or bodies levitating.

What we get is an anxiety-inducing study of what happens when parents can’t protect and nurture their own children and the connection to the supernatural seems forced until the last ten minutes.

Where You Are Not My Mother deserves all due credit is the way it is designed and filmed. Light, shadow and movement are stunningly captured by cinematographer Narayan Van Maele, giving each shot a sense of imminent danger. The eerie sound design with its clanking pipes and whistling winds really sets the scene. The house is decorated in the late-70s style: everything in shades of brown, including a velvet sofa the colour of dirty tea.

Dolan and her production-design team make Char’s house feel like the waiting room to get into Hades with furniture that provides offers no comfort, and lightbulbs that provide no visual warmth. This creates a sense of no escape for our hero.  She’s trapped inside and, when she can get out, she’s forced back in by bullies.

Hazel Doupe delivers an exceptional performance. She is heart-breaking as the young girl that struggles with having a mom, who isn’t emotionally there, and a grandmother with psychical disabilities. Add the brutal bullying she is subjected to, and you have the recipe for a truly tragic and unjust childhood.

Carolyn Bracken and Ingrid Craigie give solid performances as Char’s mother and grandmother adding to the suspense.

You Are Not My Mother, is a clever title. The notion that your mom could be replaced with something else is unnerving. You still see the woman that you know as your mother, but you just know it isn’t her. And, of course, you can also replace “mother” with any other caregiver from your life.

While the pace of You Are Not My Mother is slow at times and seems to not be progressing, it does build to an ending that packs a punch and leaves you with many questions about family violence.