What are we expected to give up when we have children? This major life change inevitably causes spiraling disruption, but should it lead to fundamentally altering the essence of who we are? As children grow, must parents stay frozen in time to fulfill their children’s unrealistic ideals or should they be allowed to evolve as well?
While answers to these questions may seem fairly obvious, it’s surprising how often new parents succumb to societal expectations of who they should be and prevent themselves from living full lives. Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz explore this disturbing scenario in their 2014 film Goodnight Mommy. Are we the same people our children see and what happens if we dare to be someone else?
Elias (Elias Schwarz) and Lukas (Lukas Schwarz) are enjoying an idyllic life in the Austrian countryside when their Mother (Susanne Wuest) returns from facial plastic surgery. In order to properly recover, she needs extensive rest and informs the boys that they must play outside. Her icy homecoming reveals underlying tensions in the family and Mother will not acknowledge Lukas’ presence. Combined with changes to her physical appearance, the boys become convinced that the woman occupying their lavish house is not actually their mother at all, but an imposter.
In the latest episode of The Lady Killers Podcast, Cohosts Jenn Adams, Sammie Roffman, and Rachel Reeves, welcome new cohost Shelby Novak before unpacking the film’s grueling torture scenes. Why doesn’t Mother address both her sons? What happened to cause a rift in the family? Who killed the poor spare cat the boys find and what happens in those picturesque woods? The Lady Killers will answer these questions and more as they uncover the many interpretations of this disturbing film.
Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
The post ‘Goodnight Mommy’ and the Brutal Expectations of Motherhood [The Lady Killers Podcast] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.