Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Latest
    • Thank You
    • 4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)
    • 3999. The Pianist (2002)
    • 3998. Philadelphia (1993)
    • 3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
    • 3996. The Green Mile (1999)
    • 3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
    • 3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Home
    • Blog
      • All Posts
      • Best Of The Year
        • Best Of 2015
        • Best Of 2016
        • Best Of 2017
        • Best Of 2018
        • Best Of 2019
        • Best Of 2020
        • Best Of 2021
        • Best Of 2022
      • The Decade In Review
      • Box Office Analysis
      • James Bond
      • Oscars
      • RANKED
      • Star Wars
      • The Big Questions
      • Top 10
      • World Cinema
    • Ratings
      • Top 250
      • Top 100 Foreign Films
      • Bottom 50
      • 0 – 1.9
      • 2 – 3.9
      • 4 – 5.9
      • 6 – 7.9
      • 8 – 10
    • Genres
      • Action
      • Anthology
      • Animation
      • Christmas
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Fantasy
      • Film-Noir
      • History
      • Horror
      • Kids’
      • Musical
      • Psychological
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Short
      • Silent
      • Sport
      • Superhero
      • Survival
      • Thriller
      • Western
    • Release Year
      • 2020s
      • 2010s
      • 2000s
      • 1990s
      • 1980s
      • 1970s
      • 1960s
      • 1950s
      • 1940s
      • 1930s
      • 1920s
    • Country
      • Afghanistan
      • Argentina
      • Australia
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Brazil
      • Cambodia
      • Canada
      • Chile
      • China
      • Colombia
      • Costa Rica
      • Czechoslovakia
      • Czech Republic
      • Denmark
      • East Timor
      • Faroe Islands
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Georgia
      • Greece
      • Hong Kong
      • Hungary
      • Iceland
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Ireland
      • Israel
      • Italy
      • Japan
      • Latvia
      • Lebanon
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Mexico
      • New Zealand
      • Nigeria
      • North Korea
      • Norway
      • Paraguay
      • Peru
      • Philippines
      • Poland
      • Romania
      • Russia
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • South Africa
      • Soviet Union
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Uganda
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
      • Uruguay
      • Vietnam
      • Zambia
    • About
    The Mad Movie Man
    You are at:Home»Review»3550. Mothering Sunday (2021)

    3550. Mothering Sunday (2021)

    0
    By The Mad Movie Man on November 17, 2021 110-119 mins, 2021, 4 - 5.9, Drama, Movies Of 2021, Nov 21, Review, Romance, United Kingdom
    5.9 Really dull
    • Acting 6.2
    • Directing 5.7
    • Story 5.8
    • User Ratings (1 Votes) 9.9

    Starring: Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Olivia Colman

    Director: Eva Husson

    Running Time: 110 mins


    Mothering Sunday is a British film about a housemaid in post-World War I England who meets with her secret love, a wealthy aristocrat who is soon to be married to another woman.

    A painfully laborious watch, Mothering Sunday not only fills itself with all the tropes of period drama that you could imagine, but does so in the most tedious, meandering way, offering up only a few minutes of genuine emotional intrigue among over an hour and a half of one-dimensional social commentary and melodramatic romance.

    Basically, if you liked Pride And Prejudice, but didn’t think there was enough nudity or swearing, then Mothering Sunday is for you. Even though it’s set a good few decades after the Austen classic, this film feels completely caught up in the wrong era, with its attempts to introduce some social context surrounding the fallout of the First World War really falling flat.

    The first two-thirds of Mothering Sunday are exhaustingly dull, as it plays out at a snail’s pace with a wandering, lost mind that offers very little in the way of insightful or captivating dramatic depth.

    Intersplicing moments of romance and reflection from different parts of our main character’s life, the film’s half-hearted attempts at non-linear storytelling are distracting to say the least, serving as little more than a respite from what is in effect an hour-long bedroom scene.

    Almost the entirety of the first two acts focuses on Odessa Young and Josh O’Connor’s forbidden afternoon of romance, where they break all the rigid rules of polite society and aristocratic life.

    This seems to serve as the film’s attempts to offer some kind of social commentary on the upper classes, but it amounts to little more than “Gasp! People have sex, swear and walk around in the nude behind closed doors!”

    It’s far from a liberating perspective on the era, and the long, tedious sequences in which we see Odessa Young’s relatively working class character roam the grand halls of an aristocrat’s manor are little more than skin deep, proving the dullest parts of the whole film.

    The only saving grace for Mothering Sunday comes at the start of its final act, when a degree of real, urgent drama comes into play and the film briefly does away with its vacantly abstract analysis on the façade of the British upper classes.

    Coupled with more context to bring those flashbacks from earlier on into focus, Mothering Sunday at least offers some emotional intrigue in its final half an hour or so, although it’s far from the heart-wrenching experience it thinks it is.

    As a result, I really struggled to enjoy Mothering Sunday. A painfully dull watch at times, the film is only saved late on by an engaging twist of fate, but it still struggles to do much with its central themes, too often getting caught up in an indulgent, one-dimensional dismantling of the aristocracy that never makes for an interesting watch. So, that’s why I’m giving Mothering Sunday a 5.9 overall.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    The Mad Movie Man
    • Website
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    The Mad Movie Man, AKA Anthony Cullen, writes articles and reviews about movies and the world of cinema. From January 1st, 2013 to December 31st, 2022, he watched and reviewed a movie every day. This is the blog dedicated to the project: www.madmovieman.com

    Related Posts

    8.2

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    Follow Me Online!
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Tumblr
    New Releases
    8.2
    December 25, 2022

    3994. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

    5.6
    December 10, 2022

    3969. Falling For Christmas (2022)

    6.9
    December 4, 2022

    3956. The People We Hate At The Wedding (2022)

    5.4
    December 3, 2022

    3954. Disenchanted (2022)

    7.4
    December 3, 2022

    3953. Meet Cute (2022)

    7.6
    November 23, 2022

    3934. Do Revenge (2022)

    7.0
    November 18, 2022

    3929. The Wonder (2022)

    6.7
    November 13, 2022

    3924. See How They Run (2022)

    Recommended Movies
    8.0
    Review
    May 29, 20170

    1771. Mindhorn (2017)

    8.0
    Review
    September 14, 20130

    284. This Is The End (2013)

    8.0
    Review
    February 19, 20130

    58. Mission: Impossible (1996)

    8.3
    Review
    July 15, 20200

    3022. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)

    8.0
    Review
    November 3, 20180

    2337. Suspiria (2018)

    Popular Posts
    December 31, 2022

    Thank You

    8.2
    December 31, 2022

    4000. Scenes From A Marriage (1973)

    7.8
    December 30, 2022

    3999. The Pianist (2002)

    8.2
    December 29, 2022

    3998. Philadelphia (1993)

    7.5
    December 28, 2022

    3997. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

    9.1
    December 27, 2022

    3996. The Green Mile (1999)

    7.6
    December 26, 2022

    3995. Doctor Zhivago (1965)

    © 2023 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.