By Nia Edwards-Behi
Sometimes a film experience comes along that’s difficult to review. One the one hand, I want to explain my experience of it, but on the other… it’s difficult not to provide a certain type of spoiler. I don’t plan on literally spoiling anything, but sometimes there are certain expectations of a film that we’re given beforehand that themselves change the experience of watching it.
Goodnight Mommy is a technically excellent film. There’s no denying that. The film takes place almost exclusively within the walls and garden of a modern, expansive and luxurious home. It is summer, and there’s a heatwave. Twin boys (Elias and Lukaz Schwarz) await the return of their TV-personality mother (Susanne Wuest) who has been away undergoing cosmetic surgery. Even when the bandages are removed from her face, the boys begin to suspect that this woman is not really their mother, and go about uncovering the truth from the imposter.
The work of Michael Haneke is certainly the closest comparison point for Goodnight Mommy, though, for me, comparing it to Funny Games, as it has been, is actually a little bit disingenuous. The ice-cold Haneke aesthetic and tone is present and correct, and personally, in order to give an approximation of Goodnight Mommy by means of comparison, I’d add a sprinkling of Bergman into the mix, in his In a Glass Darkly mode. This is very much a chamber piece. One or two other characters appear in the film very briefly, but the film is carried by the two boys and their domineering mother. The setting is extremely important to the sense of menace and dread that suffuses the film, and this isolated house, on the edge of a dark forest, is perfect. It’s a house without much in it, but for wide open spaces. Its prevalence of glass and steel fittings adds to the extremely cold feel of the film – all the more impressive for a narrative set during a heatwave.
The film is extremely well-shot. Characters are either framed in lonely long-shots or intimate close-ups, and this once again underlines the overall feel of the film. The performances are superb. The twins are excellent, effectively carrying the film, but I must say that Susanne Wuest gives a chilling performance as the mother, making for an excellent monster in the film, whether she is actually a monster or not.
For all its grotesquely beautiful iciness, the film drags a bit by its close. There’s an interjection into the narrative not far from the film’s end which is unnecessary and, actually, quite nonsensical, which could, for me, have easily been trimmed to make the film a bit better paced and as a result more effective. The absolute end of the film also feels like a bit of a disappointing cop-out, and so the rather masterful and restrained build-up of tension feels unsatisfyingly concluded.
So, if this such a well-made film, particularly as its so reminiscent of filmmakers I’m fond of, why on Earth didn’t I love it? Here’s where we get to the problem of expectations before a film, so if you really, really don’t want to know anything about the film, look away.
It wasn’t that I was eagerly anticipating this one in particular – yes, I’d heard good things, and was keen to see it, but this wasn’t exactly Age of Ultron levels of hype. Rather, I knew that there was a twist to the film. I didn’t know what that twist was, and I have no intention of revealing it. The trouble was, I worked that twist out within minutes of the film starting. Now, this shouldn’t be such a big deal, but I very, very rarely work out a film’s twist, even when they’re glaringly obvious. I just don’t see them. This twist, however, seemed extremely obvious to me, and continued to be as the film progressed. As a result, the whole narrative of the film became somewhat undermined for me, and so my enjoyment was rather less than it could have been. I do think, that, for me, knowing in advance that there was a ‘clever twist’, made my working it out so early on all the more distracting. Unfortunately, I can’t fully talk about my opinion of the film without pointing out that there is a twist to be had (maybe a better writer than I could have done so!). This didn’t detract from how well-made the film was, of course, but unfortunately for my experience of watching the film, working it out, and so early on in the narrative, really did impact on my overall appreciation of the film.