geezer cinema/film fatales #137: mothering sunday (eva husson, 2021)

Before watching Mothering Sunday, we saw a preview for the latest picture in the Downton Abbey franchise. I watched Downton Abbey, even saw the first movie, even enjoyed it, but I never got over thinking that Julian Fellowes was a bit too fond of the upper classes.

Eva Husson never makes that mistake with Mothering Sunday. The upper classes aren't vilified (and it's only fair to note that the people in Mothering Sunday aren't as rich as those in Downton Abbey). They are characters with good points and flaws, just like the rest of us. The central romance, between the wealthy Paul and the maid Jane, is a problem for them both in that Paul is engaged to another wealthy person, and thus Paul and Jane will never be accepted openly. But not only do both of them recognize this, Jane can live with it just as much as can Paul, maybe even more so. Jane is eagerly observant ... it's no surprise that she eventually becomes a writer. She values her relationship with Paul, but it doesn't define her, nor does she let her place in the class system stop her from achieving her dream of writing.

The novel on which Mothering Sunday is based was written by a man, Graham Swift, but the film was written and directed by women (Alice Burch and Eva Husson respectively), and they explicitly offer a work that sidesteps the male gaze with a woman-centered perspective. We don't see Jane as Paul sees her, we see Jane as she might see herself. This is especially clear in the many scenes of nudity. The sex scenes are intimate without being exploitative, and the nudity isn't about how hot actors Odessa Young and Josh O'Connor are, but about how comfortable they are in their own skin. There is a lengthy segment where Jane, alone in Paul's estate, wanders the rooms, naked, learning about Paul's life, pausing at things that interest her. She's naked because they made love before Paul left, because it's natural, not because she is hot.

This perspective informs the film as a whole. I wish there was more to it ... I'm not generally taken with tales of the upper classes. But it's gorgeous to look at, and there is some impressive acting, with Odessa Young leading the cast (Colin Firth is particularly good in the stiff-upper-lip stereotype). It's a good movie, and very promising for director Husson.