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* [[Harry Michell]] – Harry, Bobby and Helen's son
* [[Harry Michell]] – Harry, Bobby and Helen's son
* [[Rosie Michell]] – Rosie, Bobby and Helen's daughter
* [[Rosie Michell]] – Rosie, Bobby and Helen's daughter

==Production==
[[Anne Reid]] revealed that she was so terrified at the prospect of filming sex scenes with [[Daniel Craig]] that she got drunk and then burst into tears.<ref>{{cite web |title=How sex scenes with James Bond reduced me to tears - Anne Reid |work=www.chroniclelive.co.uk |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/lifestyle/showbiz/anne-reid-how-sex-scenes-7434620 |access-date=13 February 2022 }}</ref>


==Awards and honours==
==Awards and honours==

Revision as of 09:01, 13 February 2022

The Mother
US Theatrical poster
Directed byRoger Michell
Written byHanif Kureishi
Produced byKevin Loader
StarringAnne Reid
Peter Vaughan
Daniel Craig
Danira Gović
CinematographyAlwin H. Küchler
Edited byNicolas Gaster
Music byJeremy Sams
Production
company
Distributed byMomentum Pictures
Release date
14 November 2003 (2003-11-14)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£1.5 million

The Mother is a 2003 British drama film directed by Roger Michell.

Plot

May (played by Anne Reid) is a woman from Northern England. Her life has been constrained by the expectations of society and her husband. When her husband dies during a visit to their adult children in London, she has a chance to start again and pursue her love of drawing.

May is quiet but when her son Bobby tries to make her sit down and have a cup of tea she refuses, saying she might never get up. She won't become invisible like all the neighbouring grandmothers and widows. May returns to London with Bobby to Helen's horror.

She initiates a sexual affair with Darren (Daniel Craig), a warm and attractive younger man who is renovating Bobby and Helen's house and who is her daughter Paula's boyfriend. Paula says he is a sweet man but weak. He has a wife and autistic son but lives in his van outside their house. Darren appears to share May's interest in art and the unlikely pair form an understanding.

May moves from Bobby's house to Paula's and discovers Paula is having therapy because her mother didn't cuddle her enough. At a writing group organised by Paula, May writes a short account of being a depressed mother of two young children. It is a very public explanation, perhaps, for her lack of affection. Paula introduces her mother to Bruce, a man near May's age. Paula wants her mother to find out if Darren will leave his wife and what he thinks of her. May agrees, but can only avoid Paula's later questions.

Paula stumbles upon a sketchbook filled with May's drawings of a naked man and a woman performing fellatio on him. She surmises the man is Darren, and shows the sketches to Bobby. He says it must be a fantasy but Paula thinks there is an affair, and is angry.

After sex with May, Darren helps himself to medication in Helen's bathroom cabinet without caring what they are. May offers to pay for him to travel, with her, but then seeing his reluctant response says, 'what a silly idea'.

Paula invites her mother and Bruce on a double date with her and Darren. May leaves when Paula makes a show of kissing Darren. Bruce pursues her. He takes her home and coerces her into having sex that she doesn't want or enjoy. May goes to Paula's but finds no comfort as Paula is pleased to think her mother and Bruce were probably intimate. Paula thinks Darren will leave his wife the next day as she has given him an ultimatum, and says her mother must, therefore, leave.

Bobby tells Darren he must finish the conservatory or leave as he has a deadline and wants to sell the house. After they fight, Darren tries to make May perform fellatio on him but May is reluctant because he is angry. He then asks where her money is. She says it would be a plane ticket not cash and Darren loses his temper and insults her. He smashes up the conservatory.

Later, Paula tells her mother that what might make her feel better would be to hit her. May agrees. Paula punches May in the face. They visit Bobby's house where Helen is showing an estate agent round. Darren is back working on the conservatory with Bobby. May has a black eye that she explains as an argument and says she 'got the message' she then says goodbye to everyone and refuses a lift to the station.

May goes home, but only long enough to grab her passport. She walks away with her suitcase, sketchbooks and passport in hand.

Cast

Production

Anne Reid revealed that she was so terrified at the prospect of filming sex scenes with Daniel Craig that she got drunk and then burst into tears.[1]

Awards and honours

Wins

ALFS Award - Anne Reid

Nominations

BAFTA Film Award - Anne Reid
Lino Brocka Award - Roger Michell
2004 Audience Award - Daniel Craig and Anne Reid
2003 European Film Award - Anne Reid and Hanif Kureishi
ALFS Award - Daniel Craig, Hanif Kureishi, Film of the Year
Golden Goblet - Roger Michell


  1. ^ "How sex scenes with James Bond reduced me to tears - Anne Reid". www.chroniclelive.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2022.