Mother And Son Reviews

A meditation on love

It's hard to imagine a film further removed from standard Hollywood fare. Little over an hour long, with no plot to speak of, Aleksandr Sokurov's film communicates emotion through the nuances of gesture, changing light and the forest setting. In the film, through the delicate tending to a mother's dying hours we have a son's love bringing symmetry to their lifelong relationship; as he carries her helpless body, washes her and feeds her, we cannot help but picture the love which she gave him in his infancy.

A film which rewards reflection, it is simple but profound, with a counter-cultural message for film-making and for society's respect for the elderly and frail.

Fastforward

Not much to say, not my type of movie, fast forwarded it all the way

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Ambient cinema

An hour and ten minutes of a young man easing his adored mother into as restful a death as he can manage. They lie in bed together (note with what subtlety Sokurov introduces movement into the film), he comforts her, he carries her out for a walk in the woods. Then they return. He goes out alone. She dies. He weeps. It doesn't look like very much of a basis for a movie, and yet all of humanity is here, with occasional cutaways to top-shots of mountains and forests reminding us that life and death is everywhere (and perhaps also encouraging us to look for symbolic readings of the film, as well). Achingly beautiful, trance-like cinema.

Note also another Sokurov film, 'A humble life' is included on the extras (although it's actually five minutes longer that 'Mother and son').

And one drawback: the film has been poorly transferred to disc from a German print, with some randomly badly translated subtitles. Sokurov and his movie deserve better treatment, especially from a company with Artificial Eye's reputation.

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Mother & Son

Generally described as a slow moving, nothing happens, no-one speaks, no character development. I hated it, my partner tolerated it but we were glad when we switched it off.

Had to put Leonard Cohen on afterwards to cheer us up!

Beautiful beyond words

This is one of the most visually ravishing and emotionally engaging films I have ever seen.

[Highly rated reviewer]

oneness

To say this film is beautifully shot seems a bit glib ... the pictures immerse one in the spirit of nature, making the landscape as much a part of the emotional experience of watching this film as the relationship between the mother and son.