The new British drama “Mothering Sunday” is a slow, viscous story about the trials we must overcome for love.

The line between calm and boring storytelling is very thin; it's a pity that “Mothering Sunday” crosses it.

Synopsis

By tradition, on Mothering Sunday, servants are allowed a day off to visit their mothers. Orphan Jane Fairchild (Odessa Young) takes advantage of this, spending it with her lover Paul (Josh O’Connor), who comes from a wealthy family.

This day will stay in her memory forever – a sun-drenched house, books, conversations, and events that will soon change the course of her life. Pieces of a puzzle from others' memories and fragmentary scenes gradually come together into a single, complete picture.

The Aesthetics of the Film “Mothering Sunday”

The strongest aspect of the film is, without a doubt, the atmosphere. “Mothering Sunday” gradually immerses you in a meditative state with every scene, every frame, every actor's emotion. And, first and foremost, the music. It's not often that you leave the cinema and go online to find out the composer's name. So, Morgan Kibby was a discovery for me.

In principle, director Eva Husson primarily worked on aesthetics. Beautiful people who walk around naked without embarrassment and are not shy about appearing so vulnerable before the camera. Long, thoughtful conversations over a cigarette, of which there are very many here. Excellent staging, using every tool with surprising precision.

Was There Any Point?

And again, yet again, everything crashes against the script like the Titanic against an iceberg. The story itself is as simple as can be, every twist predictable a mile away. Sometimes a flicker of hope crosses your mind that maybe, just maybe, you'll be surprised this time – but no. Templates, clichés, and tiresome tropes.

Of course, allowances can be made for the limitations of the source material, since “Mothering Sunday” is based on Graham Swift's 2016 novel “Mothering Sunday”. And, believe me, the source material needed a good artistic reworking before adaptation. They tried to pull it off. Unsuccessfully.

No matter how hard Odessa Young and Josh O’Connor try, who are undeniably charismatic, they have nothing to work with. The divine Colin Firth and Olivia Colman (may their names be praised until the end of time) could have fixed things, but these titans are criminally underused on screen. It's only gratifying that even in this short time they manage to act in ways the younger ones can't yet dream of.

So what do we have in the end? A meaningless set of scenes that, although beautiful and even tied together into a single narrative, lead nowhere in particular. In terms of plot, only the last two minutes are strong, which, frankly, “Mothering Sunday” didn't quite earn.

Abandoned Artistic Techniques and Other Problems

There is one extremely interesting nuance that the author of this review noticed around the middle. Husson tried to spice up the proceedings with visual illustrations of the heroine's thoughts. Sometimes she imagines or sees things, and the camera briefly sees the world through her eyes. This could have been worked with very fruitfully.

But around the middle of the runtime, “Mothering Sunday” simply gives up on this artistic decision. After the first twenty minutes, it appears only once more, closer to the end. The rest of the time, the most we get are scattered fragments, shuffled in chronology – because that's how the heroine sees it. The unused potential is disheartening.

There is another problem that slightly spoils the overall impression – sometimes we are bombarded with many people's names and their approximate family ties, but at a certain point the viewer loses the thread: so who is who to whom? Is that guy a friend, or a brother?... Help!...

And absolutely serious phrases from obscenely rich aristocratic characters like “I envy you,” directed at their servants, are simply tasteless. Don't do that.

Verdict

There is a certain kind of film you want to watch while curled up on the sofa under a blanket, with a cat purring nearby. Simple stories about unequal love, like Cinderella stories, where only the endings vary. “Mothering Sunday” could easily have fit the bill – but it's too tedious, too clichéd, and places an overly large emphasis on the naked human body (which might put off some viewers).

Nevertheless, its beauty deserves to be appreciated, and the actors handle their task excellently. So you can give the film a chance. For one viewing.