A sad fact is that few – or none – movies have shown the reality of being a contemporary mother. Maybe the lack of interest about this kind of stories subsists because mothers are an excluded demographic group and their chores are still unrewarded in social and economical terms. The indie film "Motherhood", from the director Katherine Dieckmann, has the merit of being the only recent movie that has shown the perils of motherhood in a sincere and interesting way.
"Motherhood" describes one day in the life of Eliza Welsh – a geeky, bohemian and messy mommy who lives in the verge of a nervous breakdown – but it's not a regular one, it's a pretty chaotic 24 hour marathon in which several significant events converge, being the most important of them the celebration of her lovely daughter's sixth birthday. Eliza should beat many urban obstacles in order to bring into line her different roles: woman, wife, mother and writer. At some points Eliza seems conceived by her creator as a contemporary version of Mrs. Dalloway with a post-9.11 mommy turn, and it appealed me.
Uma Thurman in the main role looks exactly like a Greenwich Village's jumbled mother and the way in which she assumes the unstoppable urgencies of her character is wonderful. In the supporting roles, Anthony Edwards is excellent portraying the extremely unfocused husband, Minnie Driver looks smart and sparkling in the role of the best friend and Daisy Tahan portrays the part of Clara (Eliza's daughter) with a surprising and overwhelming naturalism.
I like the fact that Kaherine Dieckmann approaches the topic of motherhood in a candid way that rings true and feels personal. I guess that the main problem of "Motherhood" is the tone (sometimes it's uneven) but in general terms I think that the story has many truthful moments and the script delivers some wise and funny lines. The climatic moment of the movie is the terrific scene wherein Eliza explains her husband that she feels that those concrete and specific chores that mothers do – like cleaning, doing the dishes, etc. – blow away passion and the most wonderful thing of this little and entertaining movie resides in the message of the cited scene it's not about a woman regretting motherhood, actually it's about a person who desperately wants to recuperate passion.
"Motherhood" describes one day in the life of Eliza Welsh – a geeky, bohemian and messy mommy who lives in the verge of a nervous breakdown – but it's not a regular one, it's a pretty chaotic 24 hour marathon in which several significant events converge, being the most important of them the celebration of her lovely daughter's sixth birthday. Eliza should beat many urban obstacles in order to bring into line her different roles: woman, wife, mother and writer. At some points Eliza seems conceived by her creator as a contemporary version of Mrs. Dalloway with a post-9.11 mommy turn, and it appealed me.
Uma Thurman in the main role looks exactly like a Greenwich Village's jumbled mother and the way in which she assumes the unstoppable urgencies of her character is wonderful. In the supporting roles, Anthony Edwards is excellent portraying the extremely unfocused husband, Minnie Driver looks smart and sparkling in the role of the best friend and Daisy Tahan portrays the part of Clara (Eliza's daughter) with a surprising and overwhelming naturalism.
I like the fact that Kaherine Dieckmann approaches the topic of motherhood in a candid way that rings true and feels personal. I guess that the main problem of "Motherhood" is the tone (sometimes it's uneven) but in general terms I think that the story has many truthful moments and the script delivers some wise and funny lines. The climatic moment of the movie is the terrific scene wherein Eliza explains her husband that she feels that those concrete and specific chores that mothers do – like cleaning, doing the dishes, etc. – blow away passion and the most wonderful thing of this little and entertaining movie resides in the message of the cited scene it's not about a woman regretting motherhood, actually it's about a person who desperately wants to recuperate passion.