Turturro deserves four stars – but the rest of Moretti’s saggy melodrama is scarcely half as good.
My Mother(Mia madre)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Italy, France, Germany · 2015
1h 46m
Director Nanni Moretti
Starring Margherita Buy, Nanni Moretti, John Turturro, Pietro Ragusa
Genre Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Margherita, a director in the middle of an existential crisis, has to deal with the inevitable and still unacceptable loss of her mother.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Among the excellent principals, top-billed Turturro enlivens things wonderfully, but the real star, Buy, is magnificent.
The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young
Simplicity and maturity of vision are the virtues here, good qualities but perhaps a little too understated for major attention-grabbing.
Moretti’s exploration of loss is unquestionably affecting, and My Mother has powerful moments, yet they’re not always well integrated with the broadly pitched moviemaking scenes, featuring a caricaturish John Turturro.
Mia Madre is an intimate and sincerely made family portrait, which ends up betraying its own indifference to anything beyond the confines of the family.
Screen International by Lee Marshall
Its relatively tranquil surface, its small amusements (many of them revolving around a tasty turn by John Turturro as a histrionically insecure American leading man), its moments of touching, almost Sirkian melodrama, above all its ability to tease resonant themes out of seemingly inconsequential scenes or lines of dialogue, make for a film that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The Playlist by Oliver Lyttelton
As ever, Moretti creates a rich and incredibly detailed world, one where every character has a life that stretches far beyond their on-screen scenes.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Mia Madre is a tremendously smart and enjoyable movie.
Users who liked this film also liked
The Son's Room
(La stanza del figlio)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2001
- Director Nanni Moretti
- Cast Nanni Moretti, Laura Morante, Jasmine Trinca, Giuseppe Sanfelice, Silvio Orlando, Stefano Accorsi
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Video
Bianca
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1984
- Director Nanni Moretti
- Cast Nanni Moretti, Laura Morante, Roberto Vezzosi, Remo Remotti, Claudio Bigagli, Enrica Maria Modugno
- Genre Drama, Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Caro Diario
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 1993
- Director Nanni Moretti
- Cast Nanni Moretti, Renato Carpentieri, Antonio Neiwiller, Claudia Della Seta, Lorenzo Alessandri, Raffaella Lebboroni
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Hoopla, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Kanopy
The Caiman
(Il caimano)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy • 2006
- Director Nanni Moretti
- Cast Silvio Orlando, Margherita Buy, Jasmine Trinca, Michele Placido, Antonello Grimaldi, Elio De Capitani
- Genre Drama, Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Aprile
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 1998
- Director Nanni Moretti
- Cast Nanni Moretti, Silvio Orlando, Silvia Nono, Pietro Moretti, Agata Apicella Moretti, Nuria Schoenberg
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Kanopy
Sweet Dreams
(Sogni d'oro)
He's a director of fantasy, but what happens when he begins living in his own dream world?
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1981
- Director Nanni Moretti
- Cast Nanni Moretti, Nicola Di Pinto, Laura Morante, Alessandro Haber, Remo Remotti, Piera Degli Esposti
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
We Have a Pope
(Habemus Papam)
We all have our doubts.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2011
- Director Nanni Moretti
- Cast Michel Piccoli, Nanni Moretti, Margherita Buy, Jerzy Stuhr, Renato Scarpa, Franco Graziosi
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Kanopy, Plex
A Magnificent Haunting
(Magnifica presenza)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2012
- Director Ferzan Özpetek
- Cast Elio Germano, Margherita Buy, Vittoria Puccini, Beppe Fiorello, Paola Minaccioni, Cem Yılmaz
- Genre Drama, Fantasy, Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Just Like Brothers
(Comme des frères)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2012
- Director Hugo Gélin
- Cast François-Xavier Demaison, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Pierre Niney, Mélanie Thierry, Florence Thomassin, Cécile Cassel
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
A Five Star Life
(Viaggio sola)
Irene is entirely devoted to her job as an inspector of luxury hotels. But one fateful event will change her mindset.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 2013
- Director Maria Sole Tognazzi
- Cast Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Fabrizia Sacchi, Gianmarco Tognazzi, Alessia Barela, Lesley Manville
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on OVID, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Kanopy, Plex
Class Enemy
(Razredni sovražnik)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Slovenia • 2013
- Director Rok Biček
- Cast Igor Samobor, Nataša Barbara Gračner, Tjaša Železnik, Maša Derganc, Robert Prebil
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
We Were Young
(On voulait tout casser)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2015
- Director Philippe Guillard
- Cast Kad Merad, Charles Berling, Benoît Magimel, Vincent Moscato, Jean-François Cayrey, Anne Charrier
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube
The Country Doctor
(Médecin de campagne)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2016
- Director Thomas Lilti
- Cast François Cluzet, Marianne Denicourt, Isabelle Sadoyan, Félix Moati, Christophe Odent, Patrick Descamps
- Genre Drama, Comedy
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Kanopy
The Devil's Mistress
(Lída Baarová)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Czech Republic, Slovakia • 2016
- Director Filip Renč
- Cast Tatiana Pauhofová, Karl Markovics, Gedeon Burkhard, Zdenka Procházková, Simona Stašová, Martin Huba
- Genre Drama, History, Romance
- Available on Chai Flicks
150 Milligrams
(La Fille de Brest)
A doctor in Brest, France discovers that a state-approved diabetes medication may be killing its patients.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2016
- Director Emmanuelle Bercot
- Cast Sidse Babett Knudsen, Benoît Magimel, Isabelle De Hertogh, Charlotte Laemmel, Lara Neumann
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Legend of the Christmas Witch
(La befana vien di notte)
- ✭ ✭
- Italy, Spain • 2018
- Director Michele Soavi
- Cast Paola Cortellesi, Stefano Fresi, Fausto Maria Sciarappa, Giovanni Calcagno, Clòe Romagnoli, Diego Delpiano
- Genre Family, Comedy, Fantasy
- Available on Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Freevee, Plex
The Stonebreaker
(Spaccapietre)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, Belgium • 2020
- Director Gianluca De Serio, Massimiliano De Serio
- Cast Salvatore Esposito, Samuele Carrino, Antonella Carone, Giuseppe Lo Console, Vito Signorile, Licia Lanera
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.