Mothering Sunday Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Mothering Sunday Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 12, 2023

First off, terrible title. Let's get that out of the way. Mothering Sunday? Tells me nothing, sounds weird, doesn't slide off the tongue, doesn't serve as a doorway to what is about to unfold. Honestly, it also doesn't make a whole lot of sense by film's end, beyond its literal meaning. ("Mothering Sunday" is a mid-Lent day celebrating the archangel Gabriel's annunciation to Mary that she would become the mother of Jesus.) But I digress. Mothering Sunday (say it a few times to get used to it) is what otherwise might be a stuffy, erotic, period drama that falls neatly into a growing subgenre: period-set, coming of age female-sexuality dramas. Unfortunately, it's rather dull and surprisingly lifeless considering all the skin on screen. I'm always up for a slow, methodical character study or for era-centric expressionism but this isn't either. Sensuality and romance are paramount to all that unfolds on screen but there's a sleepiness and strangely static emotional savagery to the first half of the feature that robs it of some of its beauty, intentionality and aspirations.

On a warm spring day in 1924, house maid and foundling Jane Fairchild (Odessa Young, 'Assassination Nation', 'The Stand', 'Shirley') finds herself alone on Mothering Sunday. With her employers, Mr. and Mrs. Niven (Colin Firth and Olivia Colman), away from their home, Jane has the rare chance to spend quality time with her secret lover, Paul (Josh O'Connor, 'Emma', 'Only You'). Jane's long-term love lives in a manor house nearby, though he's engaged to be married to another woman named Emma (Emma D'Arcy, 'House of the Dragon'), a childhood companion and daughter of his parents' friends. However, events neither Jane nor Paul can foresee will change the course of Jane's life forever. Directed by Eva Husson, from a screenplay by Alice Birch based on the novel of the same name by Graham Swift, the film also stars Sope Dirisu, Patsy Ferran, Caroline Harker, Simon Shepherd, Emily Woof and Albert Welling.

A few points of order. One: adding copious scenes of nudity does not a sensual story make. Mothering Sunday isn't exactly gratuitous but the nudity is often distracting and unnecessary, not in the prudish sense, but just in the normal person kinda way, where you find yourself thinking, why is Jane walking around naked at the moment? And you find yourself thinking it a dozen times. Two: long, quiet shots of an actress in repose, or staring out a window, or gazing off into the distance, or sitting in silence while eyeballing... wallpaper? These moments don't give us an impression of a woman lost in thought or someone pondering the consequences of their choices. These are moments that suggest a filmmaker who wants us to think these things of our heroine. That may sound like a fine line, but I assure you, it isn't. Three: Odessa Young is a fine actress and her performance is all at once evocative and disarming; with her at the helm, Jane is simultaneously sad, enraptured, lonely, mischievous, subservient and rebellious. So why raise a point of order? These are merely what she brings to the film through her tone and expressions, and it's almost as if she has to sneak them in. Husson seems more interested in crafting a spiritual homage to Terrence Mallick's To the Wonder than in exploring what drives, grows and challenges Jane. Four: Coleman and Firth are given so very little to do. They aren't miscast -- they do a fine job with what little they're given -- they're just underused, and I struggled to understand why such talented A-listers were deemed necessary to what are two actors who are so subdued that they begin to function more as set dressing than rich supporting characters.

If those matters don't bother you, though, or don't interrupt your enjoyment as much as they did with my viewing, you'll unearth a gem of a romantic drama buried beneath the surface of Mothering Sunday. There are moments, entire stretches really, where the film is sumptuous, haunting and alluring. Jane's lovers and affairs eventually lead her to Donald (a terrific Sope Dirisu), a philosopher she marries later in life who brings with him and their relationship a future heartache. It's here that Jane at long last feels like a fully rounded character, and it's here that the film gains some momentum, despite the fact that it involves an acceleration in pacing that makes the film feel as if a greater runtime would've been helpful. (Ironic considering I spent the first hour glancing at my watch.) Dirisu infuses the story with a gravitas and pathos that makes the childish flings and selfish decisions of Jane's young adulthood flit away into memory, leaving a woman that I found far more intriguing and emotionally honest. If her older years were given more attention, Mothering Sunday would be more than an average period romance. It might have been a more opulent and bountiful drama teeming with moments of true longing and loss.

Mothering Sunday Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mothering Sunday wasn't the film I wanted it to be, but I could not have been happier with Sony's gorgeous, truly stunning, wholly filmic 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer (presented faithfully at a 1.66:1 aspect ratio). Jamie Ramsay's photography and palette effortlessly shifts between chilly undersaturated exterior hues to lush, extravagant, yet naturally warm interior colors. Skintones are perfectly lifelike and arresting, particularly in shots when Ramsay's camera lingers on Jane and her lovers following their trysts and encounters. Contrast is lovely as well, as are black levels, which go deep but also allow for excellent delineation and shadow detail. And greater detail is present. Fine textures are subtle but refined, a faint veneer of grain is consistent and unobtrusive, edge definition is clean and precise, and there isn't any blocking, banding or artificiality that might interfere. A perfect score may seem a bit much in the case of a muted period drama but study the presentation more closely and you'll be as impressed as I was.

Mothering Sunday Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mothering Sunday pairs its excellent video presentation with a suitably tranquil, often downcast DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that handles everything the film brings to the screen with ease. Conversations are typically soft, hushed affairs, as are post-coital musings and wanderings. Dialogue, though, is always clear and well-prioritized, as are other soundscape elements and environmental effects. The rear channels are subdued but active throughout, particularly in outdoor sequences, and directionality is precise and pans are smooth. LFE output is light and passive, albeit effective when called upon. And the whole of the mix presumably falls in line neatly with the film's sound design.

Mothering Sunday Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray release of Mothering Sunday doesn't include any special features other than the film's theatrical trailer.

Mothering Sunday Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Take a look at Odessa Young's expression above. That's a good approximation of my face while watching Mothering Sunday. It's a decent period drama, a less effective bit of pre-WWI erotica, but on the whole slower and less meaningful that what I was expecting. Sony's AV presentation is outstanding thanks to a gorgeous video presentation. (Its solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track only helps.) A few special features are always welcome but I doubt anyone who enjoys Mothering Sunday will mind a barebones release all that much considering the quality of its AV presentation.