Make It a Double Feature: Have an Unhappy Mother’s Day with ‘Autumn Sonata’ and ‘The Lost Daughter’

Regarding ideal Mother’s Day viewings, you’ll probably see titles like Lady Bird and Steel Magnolias appear on people’s watchlists. Indeed, for those who want something uplifting or a good tearjerker, you can’t go wrong with watching those films with your mother. Lady Bird is a gem that only makes me sad because of how I will forever mourn Laurie Metcalf’s Oscar loss and Steel Magnolias is a must-see for fans of the actresses involved. 

However, my recommended double feature is different. Instead, I’m going with films about difficult mothers that may give one perspective, thinking “Thankfully, my mother isn’t as bad.” Two films starring acclaimed actresses who earned Oscar nominations for their corresponding portrayals. The first is Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece Autumn Sonata, currently streaming on Max and the Criterion Channel. 

Besides being nihilistic psychodramas, Ingmar Bergman’s pictures also tend to serve as strong showcases for his actresses. Chief among them are films starring two-time Best Actress nominee, Liv Ullmann (‘72 for The Emigrants, ‘76 for Face to Face). In Autumn Sonata, Ullmann plays Eva, a demure woman who tries reconnecting with her mother Charlotte (Ingrid Bergman), a self-centered star pianist. Throughout their stay in Eva’s village, both women collide over the years of Charlotte’s emotional neglect that Eva inflicted on her. Whether it’s Charlotte critiquing Eva’s piano technique or how she’d prioritize her career over her family, Eva was given scars that still haven’t healed. So much so that Eva’s wardrobe and hunched posture convey how she’s like a child who never grew up. 

Their conflict reaches a boiling point during a drunken argument scene which is one of the best acting moments of the actresses’ respective careers if not their finest moment. The fact that this was the final film role of Ingrid Bergman, who earned her seventh Oscar nomination for her performance, speaks volumes. In a role that could easily be played as one-note, Bergman makes the aloof Charlotte into something of an enigma. During moments of silence like when Charlotte is watching Eva play piano in slight awe of her technique, she leaves the viewer wondering if she’s experiencing genuine empathy or if she feels tricked into feeling compassion. 

Continuing the theme of difficult motherhood and films with a sublime central actress duo is The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut streaming on Netflix. While on vacation in scenic Greece, college professor Leda (Olivia Colman) has a chance encounter with a young mother, Nina (Dakota Johnson), which eventually causes her to reflect on her troubled past, including when she abandoned her children at one point in her life. 

Before delightfully cussing up the screen in this year’s Wicked Little Letters, both Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley shared the central role of Leda with Colman playing the older version who’s prickly yet flooding with regret and Buckley as the more apathetic younger Leda. As a result of their efforts in conveying varied layers to the same characterizations, both Colman and Buckley earned Oscar nominations for their work. Colman, in particular, proves how she’s gotten better since her Best Actress win for The Favourite. Meanwhile, the film also has Dakota Johnson doing career-best work as the stressed-out young mom Nina, a sublime supporting performance from the underrated Dagmara Domińczyk, and another bonus: Paul Mescal running around in beach shorts.

But of course, much like Autumn Sonata, The Lost Daughter is mainly about its actresses. However, compared to Bergman’s masterpiece’s tense chamber drama story structure, The Lost Daughter is more of a sleek erotic thriller that similarly depicts a mother dealing with the psychological ramifications of emotionally abandoning her children. If you’re an Oscar completist and want to watch something for Mother’s Day that likely isn’t on everyone’s recommendation lists, why not watch those two films and make it a double feature?

Autumn Sonata can be streamed on Max and is available to rent or buy on Amazon. The Lost Daughter is currently available to stream only on Netflix.

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Matt St. Clair

Matt is a New England-based freelance journalist who lives and breathes the world of cinema and has been an Oscar watcher since the age of eight. His writing can be found on outlets such as The Film Experience, Roger Ebert, Digital Spy, and Slashfilm. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and a Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association member. You can follow him on Twitter @filmguy619. (He/They)

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