Plot
Twin boys move to a new home with their mother after she has face changing cosmetic surgery, but under her bandages is someone the children don't recognize.
Release Year: 2014
Rating: 6.7/10 (3,934 voted)
Critic's Score: 79/100
Director: Severin Fiala
Stars: Susanne Wuest, Lukas Schwarz, Elias Schwarz
Storyline
In the heat of the summer, a lonesome house in the countryside between woods and corn fields, lives nine-year-old twin brothers who are waiting for their mother. When she comes home, bandaged after cosmetic surgery, nothing is like before. The children start to doubt that this woman is actually their mother. It emerges an existential struggle for identity and fundamental trust.
Writers: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Cast: Susanne Wuest -
Mother
Lukas Schwarz -
Lukas
Elias Schwarz -
Elias
Hans Escher -
Priest
Elfriede Schatz -
Red Cross Collector #1
Karl Purker -
Red Cross Collector #2
Georg Deliovsky -
Pizza Delivery Guy
Christian Steindl -
Sacristan
Christian Schatz -
Farmer
Erwin Schmalzbauer -
Accordion God
Taglines:
A mother should look out for her sons.
Country: Austria
Language: German
Release Date: 11 September 2015
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Bottom line of credits says: "Shot on glorious 35mm" See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 9/10
Well this movie caught me completely off-guard. I had no idea what to
expect given that this is the very first feature film of Austrian
director duo Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz. Goodnight Mommy is about
two young twin boys who live in a countryside house with their actress
mom, and spend most of their waking hours playing together. Their
mother has just had surgery and her face is covered in bandages,
rendering her unrecognizable to the twins. They become convinced that
the woman who has returned from surgery is not their real mother...and
I won't spoil the rest.
If you have any interest in cinema as an art form, Goodnight Mommy is
an absolute must-see. It is the most beautifully shot film I've seen
since Under the Skin. Each shot is framed in such a meticulous and
perfectly orchestrated way that you could pause the film at any time
and end up with a still worthy of hanging on your wall. I've never seen
a director put Venetian blinds to such diverse and good use, especially
the nighttime shots of them, it made natural movement look slithery and
creepy.
The most haunting aspect of the incredible visuals was the approach to
the scares, if you can call them that, in the first half of the film.
The horror in Goodnight Mommy changes about halfway through, from
purely subtle and visual to very unnerving body horror and even gore.
Those subtle shots in the beginning reminded me of the old French film
Eyes Without a Face. The mother is shown only in her bandages, with the
audience having no reference point for what is under there, which helps
us imagine the most horrible. She lurks like a monster in dark shadows
and in reflections, and it is as chilling as it is beautiful, I enjoyed
it immensely.
That's not to say I was disappointed when the movie changed direction
to the much more macabre in its second half. Exactly the opposite, in
fact. The directors handle both subtlety and violence incredibly well,
resulting in two entirely different but equally enjoyable halves. This
transition also helped keep this very personal, three actor, single
location film interesting until the end. It helped it avoid treading
similar ground more than once. And oh my god what a second half we have
here. The kind of violence the characters commit against each other is
so specifically chosen. It may not be the bloodiest or most disturbing
ideologically, but it is always acts that are very easy to imagine and
relate to, so you actually end up feeling them in your body as if
happening to you. This is body horror done right in my opinion.
Goodnight Mommy also did something that very few movies dare to do. It
interrupted the last third, the most tense part of a movie, with a
hilarious 5 minute comedy scene involving some Red Cross workers. It
was a big risk considering all the laughing could potentially diminish
the impact of the ending once we return to the violence at hand.
Instead it played it off masterfully and made the ending seem even more
vile juxtaposed against the lightheartedness of that scene. On this
note, all the other funny scenes in the film were also excellent. The
beginning made me laugh much more than once.
The downside is that one of the twists worked really well for this
movie BUT was alluded to way too well, so you guess it before the first
third is even over. On top of that, it's a twist that's already been
done in a not too dissimilar Asian film before, so it is old news for
hardcore horror fans. Regardless, this weak hiding may have been
intentional since the movie doesn't make that big of a deal out of it
in the end. In fact, the twist creates a very clever distortion of your
perception of the characters initially, and twists (no pun intended)
your expectations of who is up to what. So although not original, it
just made the rest of the movie better so I'll accept it as a necessary
evil.
Goodnight Mommy is one of the strongest horror debut films I've seen.
It is stunning body horror, and puts most other films to shame with its
cinematography. Well-directed, well-acted, well-everything. An absolute
must-see.
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