We saw Italian film MIA MADRE, directed by NANNI MORETTI and have some thoughts, read our review!
A Nanni Moretti film is always moving. His characteristic slow zoom into scenes and characters is almost nerve wracking, but becomes a luxury, a pleasure by the end. Something that makes other films feel staid and unfinished. But this film is conclusive. It follows a successful film director as she fights two battles, one with her dying mother and another with a wily American actor starring in her film. Margherita Buy is a dynamic actress and impressive in this role. Her character is not apparently “colorful” visually, but her brain is always in motion. Without a “loud” personality, as an actress, Buy’s job is much more challenging, all of the character is dependent on her emotional and expressive commitment. The words she says, sure, but the way she says them, in all of their subtle, occasionally-muttered glory. She does not resist this and director Nanni Moretti allows Buy to incorporate this role well, she is emotional but a leader driven by logic and reason. She is stubborn and confident until she is neither. She strives for perfection because it’s the only thing she knows. This is all true in the way she deals with the film as well as her mother’s death. Margherita’s attempt to rationalize her mother’s death is dependent on information – which Nanni (playing himself) withholds. It is a moment of doubt and disappointment for Margherita- as if she is not capable of understanding the reality. Margherita’s need for information and all the pieces to the puzzle is an accurate but often missed characterization in film- usually because directors do not know how to address this personality without resorting to a gimmick like playing up a mental problem, fits of rage, or violence. Margherita reacts with some rage, but this is due to the stubbornness of someone else — in one case, the actor, in another, her dying mother. Rage here is the tipping point of energy pent up, and, perhaps opaquely, her endless optimism. The desire for others to do well, to achieve, to strive. She is by no measure selfish.
This is not a sad film, but it’s simply a chance to explore, lavishly, a situation that faces many. It addresses a critical work/life balance, it addresses a woman in a powerful role, a man using the last bastion of the patriarchy he can. But Margherita’s willingness to listen and react is key. She plays the emotion well, but her quips and quiet energy occasionally bubbles up into a witty response or otherwise. Many young people are told to “grow out” of this personality. Margherita in Mia Madre reveals not only is this an acceptable way to be-shy but confident- but reveals it can get you very far in life.
