Mothering Sunday Movie Review (2021)
With gorgeous cinematography, Mothering Sunday, about a housekeeper’s secret affair with the wealthy neighbor’s son, never quite becomes as absorbing as it is beautiful.
There are many actors I love spending time with on screen, and two of them are Colin Firth and Olivia Colman. I watched them together in Empire Of Light, but I’d never gotten around to watching this movie. Then I came across a random ad for it on Facebook (yes, social media advertising works!), which propelled it right to the front of my list because, before that, it had faded from my memory.
Mothering Sunday centers on Jane Fairchild, a young woman raised in an orphanage who is employed as a housekeeper for the Nivens family. It is Mother’s Day, and Jane has been given the day off while the Nivens lunch elsewhere with their neighbors, the Sheringhams, and another family. While gone, Paul Sheringham invites Jane over to continue a secret affair they’ve been having for years.
Based on a book of the same name, Mothering Sunday is told in a nonlinear fashion, where you see Jane’s life as a young woman, a woman in her 30s and 40s, and also an older woman. She is a writer, so while she is living the life of her youth on screen, she is also writing about her memories of it.
The cinematography is stunning and by far the best thing about this film. The colors are vivid, the lighting is immaculate, and the lush visuals draw you in as if you are watching a moving painting.
Unfortunately, Mothering Sunday is also hugely forgettable. You never learn much about the characters, so you are left waiting to care about them (it never happens), and even though the storyline is rife with tragedy, there is an inherent separation between understanding what’s happening and being fully aware that you are watching a movie. There is no immersion, which is disappointing.
Also, nudity appears to be a vehicle in this film, although I couldn’t quite figure out why. Jane is naked a lot, strolling around by herself in her birthday suit, and there’s quite a bit of naked Paul as well. If there was a reason, it could have added to the story, but the only fleeting thoughts I had were power-related. When we are comfortable being naked, we feel more powerful, perhaps, especially in someone else’s house. But, even though that somewhat fits the narrative, there is a point at which it just feels gratuitous and as if someone is trying to distract you from something. Like, aren’t you cold?
Neither Colin Firth nor Olivia Colman is on screen very much, which would have been less frustrating if the storyline and other characters had filled out the space more. There is potential here, and I could see it, but it continually slipped through my fingers as I watched. My rating is for the gorgeous visuals, but it doesn’t have much more to offer.
Runtime: 104 minutes
Motion Picture Rating: R
Languages Spoken In The Film: English
Should You Watch It? No
Did I Cry? Nope
My Rating: 2/5 Stars
Available: Free on Hulu and Disney+, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms
