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Film: Mother Nocturna (Madre Notturna)
Year: 2022
Director: Daniele Campea
Writer: Daniele Campea
Starring: Susanna Costaglione, Sofia Ponente and Edoardo Oliva
Review:
This was a film that I got the chance to see thanks to Justin Cook who sent over the screener. What caught my attention here was the title. Then I started to investigate the press release to learn that this is getting in 2024 after doing festivals. Being that this is from Italy was a perk as well. Other than that, I went into seeing this blind.
Synopsis: Agnese (Susanna Costaglione) is a wolf biologist who gets back to her family after a long hospitalization in a mental institution. Her daughter, Arianna (Sofia Ponente) is an introverted teenager who lives for dancing and has a problematic relationship with her mother. The father, Riccardo (Edoardo Oliva), is a doctor who tries to hold the pieces of a family about to collapse.
We start this with Agnese getting out of the hospital. Riccardo is inquiring about how she is doing and anything that he should know. The goal here is to go out to an isolated cabin to allow her to rest. There is more to it that we learn about later. This is taking place right as the pandemic is ramping up. I’m also guessing that this is part of why she is being released and they’re getting out of the city.
Coming with them is Arianna. We first see her as she practices a dance. She is quite good at what she does. This family arrives at the location. Things take a turn when Riccardo tells Agnese that he has to go back to the city. He has work and must see a patient. This creates a bigger issue though, when he cannot return. He has an exposure that puts him into intensive care as he needs to be intubated. Agnese then starts to regress. The isolation and wondering what her husband is doing plays into that.
We then see that she suffers from sleepwalking. She goes outside and sees something that is referred to as The God (Elena Battarin). This is an eerie entity with glowing eyes. There is also a tragedy that led to Agnese first breakdown. There was a son, Leonardo. Tragedy struck there and he died as a baby. Agnese has blamed herself and she believes that Riccardo does as well. Arianna asks about what happened there, and then as things go on, we see what happened that fateful morning.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this doesn’t have the deepest story, but it does what it needs to set up the setting and then show us as our characters descend into madness. What is intriguing here is that this is a character study of Agnese and Arianna. I didn’t realize in the beginning that these two have a contentious relationship. Both do well in hiding it. The daughter because her mother just got released from the hospital and doesn’t want her to relapse from upsetting her. That wears away as they’re quarantined together without Riccardo. Agnese also loves her daughter, but she knows that Arianna favors Riccardo. This married couple has their own issues that get thrown in the face of Arianna when she sides with her father. This gets quite tense.
Let me then delve deeper into these two characters and the situation. First there is Agnese. Her being this wolf expert is incidental. It explains why they go to this remote location and we see her returning to the work she started. The only thing I’ll include here is that she believes there is a lone wolf in the area so that intrigues her. It also could explain why she sees this entity in the woods. It doesn’t look like the Christian God, but more of a beastly thing. I’ll also include here that she believes Riccardo is having an affair. He did in the past, but when he doesn’t return this time, she is convinced it is still ongoing. I hate that he is cheating on her. The more we learn here though, the more I understand. I’m still not condoning it though.
Then there is Arianna. I didn’t realize until writing this that she was an introvert. It is hard to show this when you have such a small cast and showing us a story that is set during the pandemic where none of us were seeing people. What is interesting here is that we get just enough of her until things ramp up. Then we see that she catches her father talking to another woman on the phone and ignores it when she was younger. She also has an awkward talk with her father when she has her first period. I’m assuming that this fell on his shoulders due to Agnese being committed. It is also told through flashbacks. Now we see her and her mother butt heads as the story progresses, these two aren’t as different as they think though. Arianna also harbors a dark secret.
I want to then end this out by going over the situation. This is a perfect use of a pandemic story. Seeing that this hit festivals in 2022, I’m guessing it was made during. It is fitting to come out of Italy since they were hit so hard early on. The fear is there. We also got to see what happened when they were stuck in the house with one or two other people. They get sick of each other and then their issues bubble up to being worse. I did like how this isn’t the focus. It is crucial to set it up. This worked for me.
Next up should then be the acting. I thought that Costaglione and Ponente carried this. It is great that at first, we’re seeing them tiptoe around each other. You get that idea that there’s been time apart so they don’t necessarily know how to act. What I love is that at the climax, these two aren’t as different as they think. Both do a great job and I was engaged to see where this would end. Oliva was good to set the stage. Through flashbacks we also fill in what was needed there. Battarin had such a creepy look. Credit there to the make-up, costume and how it was shot as well. Other than that, the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I thought that the cinematography and framing were good. How they showed us the setting to capture that isolated feel was great. They also don’t throw in your face that this is during the pandemic. I appreciated that. I also love the sequences in the woods. Those are creepy especially with this strange entity. This is limited to the effects needed and used aside from that. The soundtrack and design were also fine for what was needed. Something there is hearing Riccardo talking on the phone and then lying to Arianna. That changes my thoughts on him for sure.
In conclusion, this is a solid film that I’m glad that I got the chance to check out. This is a slow burn that takes time to develop. What we get here is an interesting character study of this mother and daughter. They are more alike than they realize. Their performances carry this. The rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed. This was well-made. Capturing the isolated feeling is great. The cinematography, framing and look of this entity in the woods were great. I’ll say here that this is a deliberating paced work. I think it will bore people, but if you like slow burns, give this a watch. Not traditional horror either. I still consider it.
My Rating: 7 out of 10