Mothering Sunday * * * *

I was surprised that the director of this film is Eva Husson  She has mostly done films on modern youth, which have received mediocre reviews and she is not much known outside of her own country, France. Yet here she is directing a terribly English film,  set almost a hundred years ago. 

I noticed that the screenplay was by Alice Birch who also wrote the screenplay for the remarkable Lady Macbeth.  Alice Birch is a screen writer that likes using sex as a dramatic device,  and there is a lot of sex and nudity in this film.  

The principal actors are Odessa Young (an Australian) and Josh O'Connor , well known for his fine portrayal of Prince Charles in The Crown. Also from that series is Olivia Coleman.  Her husband is played by Colin Firth - because what British drama would be complete without Colin Firth, right? 

Actually, Firth is very, very good in this, convincingly portraying a man who has lost his sons in the first World War.  He and his wife (Coleman) have never got over it.  His noble fragility is quite moving as is the terrible depth of her grief.  Childless now, the Niven's are friends with two other wealthy families who are fortunate enough to still have some of their offspring.  

The Niven's maid is having an affair with Paul from one of the other families.  He is their last surviving son and is unhappily engaged to the daughter of the third family.  

The naked Maid tries out the writer desk 

Often in film and literature the sexual relationship between a maid and a privileged son is portrayed as imbalanced, but in this case they seem to have an understanding. She is not exploited. In fact we know from the beginning that she will enjoy success in her own right as a writer.  

Mothering Sunday is primarily set over one day (what we now call  "Mothers Day"), but it time shifts continually, showing scenes from the future and the past.  It creates it's own rhythm which can be a little confusing at first, but we soon adjust to it - along with the many microscopic close-ups, Husson seems to favour.

It is Mothers Day (Mothering Sunday), 1924 and everyone is out for a picnic.  Maid Jane and Landed Gentry Paul spend a few hours having a sexual dalliance. Their physical intimacy is the centerpiece of the film with other events shown in flashback or flashforward.  

I felt they were like Adam and Eve, unashamed of their nakedness, yet beholden to a greater power.  This is emphasised when Paul eventually must leave to attend the picnic and Jane is left alone in his grand home.  In a long scene she walks around naked from room to room.  In a hallway with jungle inspired art deco wallpaper, in the library, running her fingers along the spines of books.  She sits at the desk - could such a station one day belong to her?  In the kitchen she eats naked at the table.  Far from lascivious it really is quite a beautiful sequence, broken up with other scenes as we flash forward to Jane's future and her future husband.

I have read that some viewers became impatient with the structure of this film and I can understand why.  I felt the same at times, but on reflection, I find much more to admire than to complain about in this well crafted film that can easily justify its boldness.