Have you ever wondered what goes on inside the mind of your mother while you’re sick or suffering? Well, Mary Bronstein dives deep – paranormally deep – into one mother’s psyche in this semi-comedic drama. Lead protagonist Rose Byrne delivers a truly unhinged performance as the deranged mother with mental health issues, addiction, and a daughter with an eating disorder.
What do parents feel while their child is sick, or when they’re dealing with a deadly disorder? What emotions do they experience? What could be going through their minds? Mary Bronstein takes her audience deep into that world, with the borders closing in, with the anxiety coming through the screen. The film is filled with stress and hold your breath moments, yet as the audience we still want to watch more.
Linda (Byrne) is a working mother – but perhaps more a housewife – who is on her last thread. Her husband (Christian Slater) is never home, her daughter is being fed through a tube, and her patients might need more help than she can give them. The last bit of stability she had in her life comes crashing down, literally, when her ceiling collapses causing her and her daughter to temporarily move into a motel until it gets fixed. As she tries to navigate these new circumstances she is being forced to live with, her alcoholism and drug addiction begin to get in the way of her caring ability, leaving her sick child in probable danger.
Bronstein takes us up close and personal with Linda, primarily using close-ups, staying tight on Byrne’s face. As she begins to spread thinner and thinner, the camera feels closer and closer, showing each specific twitch or tear, anything, on her face or in her facial expression(s). Instead of explaining any bit of Linda’s past, we are left with her in the present, her own past struggles lost to us as she breaks as the film continues. Though it feels as though Linda should have the answers – she is a therapist, and we see her work with clients – in truth, she does not.
While her daughter remains off screen for the film, the audience still hears her in the background, with mental struggles of her own. Constantly dealing with being tube fed and not wanting to eat, Linda’s child also deals with anxiety for sure. Adding to the heap of problems Linda must deal with, each scream or cry from her daughter can be seen in the reaction on Byrne’s face. In paranormal fashion, Linda’s impaired state is shown through visions or nightmares she has while zoning out. The audience is invited to how it could feel when your own mental health combines with the substances you have been taking, and you begin to see the worst in what could happen.
It feels as though there has never really been a film that tackles motherhood in such a personal and dark fashion. Byrne is finally given a role that her talents deserve, and the psyche of a mother is further explored. This dark, yet still comedic in ways, drama is a constant downward spiral playing with fantasy and sometimes entirely horrific elements. It ends and you’re left wondering, but that is the playful part of the film, as a daughter (or a son) you may never know what is going on in your mother’s head, but you know you both want the best for each other.
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