No, “You Are Not My Mother” does not feature any major stars on its cast list. However, this circumstance turns out to be an advantage here. This makes it even easier for audiences to immerse themselves in the action without the distraction of familiar faces. It mixes psychology with mythology, has a number of surprises in store and, thanks to its harmonious atmosphere, always sends chills down your spine. Do you agree?
“You Are Not My Mother” will be broadcast today, March 13, 2024 at 10:15 PM on Tele 5. There will be a repeat that same evening at 2:15 am. If these dates don’t suit you, the FSK 16 title is available from online retailers such as Amazon as Blu-ray, DVD or paid video on demand:
If you’re an Amazon Prime customer, you can watch the film there too free streaming*. All you have to do is register for the seven-day free trial of the Superfresh channel. If you do not want to cancel again, you will pay 6.99 euros per month after the trial period.
“You’re not my mother” on Tele 5: that’s the story
It’s the week before Halloween in rural Ireland. Angela (Carolyn Bracken), the severely depressed mother of teenager Char (Hazel Doupe), has suddenly disappeared. The only thing the worried girl and her uncle Aaron (Paul Reid) find during their panicked search is Angela’s car, abandoned in the middle of nowhere. Of course the two fear the worst.
The next evening, Angela suddenly returns home without any explanation. Char’s grandmother Rita (Ingrid Craigie) is the first to notice that something is wrong with the returnee. Although Angela looks exactly the same as before, her behavior becomes increasingly erratic and downright frightening – so she apparently tries to poison her brother Aaron the next day.
Now certain that Angela is controlled by an evil force, Rita makes strange hints about the time when Char was a small child (Lucie Doran). On Halloween night, she must try to get her ‘real’ mother back. However, this will only work if she manages to come to terms with her family’s dark past…
Autobiographical elements
Celebrated at several major genre events around the world (such as the Fantasy Filmfest 2022 presented by FILMSTARTS), ‘You Are Not My Mother’ was the first feature film from Kate Dolan, who until then had mainly worked on music videos and advertising clips. She has now directed two episodes of the critically acclaimed series ‘The Tourist’ starring Jamie Dornan.
Dolan also wrote the screenplay for “You Are Not My Mother” and incorporated not only a lot of classical Irish mythology, but also motifs from her personal biography. “Our folktales are all dark,” Dolan explained in the Interview with an American website. “I don’t think there is one with a happy ending. As a child you hear these stories and they all end with words like ‘And then they never came back…’ or ‘And then she drowned…’. As an Irish person it becomes part of your DNA – all those tragic stories you hear as a child…”
Despite the supernatural basis, ‘You Are Not My Mother’ feels very authentic. At its core, it’s a coming-of-age story that seems so believable and real because Dolan based it closely on her own childhood. Like the young protagonist embodied by the wonderfully natural-acting Hazel Doupe (“Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale”), her creator also grew up with a single mother in her grandmother’s house and attended a Catholic girls’ school, where she was not exactly was one. of the most popular children.
Ancient pagan customs, the Irish culture that is still partly based on it, and its own form of feminism intersect in a fascinating way in the horror story of ‘You Are Not My Mother’. This mix is not only extremely entertaining and exciting, it also encourages you to think about your own philosophy of life and about our social and familial constructs. Not many scary movies manage to do that.
*