Mothering Sunday review: a writer is born

Mothering Sunday begins with “Once upon a time” and the tale that follows tells the story of the growth and development of a writer. Odessa Young plays the writer, Jane Fairchild – a name given to her in a foundling home.

Mothering Sunday skips around in time and memory as Jane’s life tangles up in the pages of the books she writes. I’m going to summarize her life in a mostly spoiler free and linear way, but the story doesn’t unfold like my retelling.

Jane’s first job was as a servant in the home of the Niven family. Mr. Niven (Colin Firth) and Mrs. Niven (Olivia Colman) were grieving for the sons they lost in World War I. The Niven’s close friends, the Sheringhams had lost two sons. Their youngest, who didn’t go to war, was now grown and having an affair with Jane. He was Paul (Josh O’Connor).

Paul was studying to be a lawyer and engaged to a woman of his social class. One day Jane and Paul had Paul’s family house to themselves. After a long session of sex he left her alone there to go meet his family and intended for lunch. Their scenes were shot in total nudity. After he left, Jane wandered all over his house in the nude, stole a book and a pen, and ate some pie in the kitchen. She was brazen and bold before she even realized she was.

She had already begun scratching out her stories with a pencil.

Later she found a job in a book store and left the life of a servant behind. She continued to write and the owner of the bookstore gave her his old typewriter, a clunky little thing with a sticky letter p.

While working in the bookstore she met Donald (Sope Dìrísù), a man who wrote books about philosophy. She lived with him. She published many books of her own.

Finally we see the Older Jane (Glenda Jackson) as she wins yet another award for her writing and is unimpressed with the additional accolade.

I made the story of this writer’s life sound linear, but it was not. Nor was it compelling. Watching the film was like reading a prize winning literary novel for your book club because it won awards when all you really wanted was a story with a little momentum and excitement.

The film was slow. The camera lingered on lips and stubbed out cigarettes and miserable faces. Conversations were bound with silence. Oh, it looked wonderful. The costumes and settings were perfect.

The highs and lows in Jane’s life were held at a distance, except for one emotional scene in the Niven’s home when Jane heard some terrible news. Mostly it was detached, as if it wasn’t real until Jane put it down on a page somewhere.

Mothering Sunday was directed by Eva Husson. You can watch it streaming on Hulu. I’d love to hear some other opinions about this film from folks who found it more interesting than I did.