'Mothering Sunday' is a drama centering around Jane Fairchild, a housekeeper for the wealthy Niven family, who is given the day off on Mother’s Day 1924. The non-linear narrative follows Jane through the years, covering her emotional and career development as she becomes a successful writer.
The film opens on Mother’s Day 1924, with Jane serving breakfast to Mr. and Mrs. Niven, before the Nivens are off for the afternoon to lunch with the Sheringhams and the Hobdays, two other wealthy families and close friends of the Nivens. Jane secretly takes off to meet with Paul Sheringham with whom she has been having a romantic relationship for some time. At the lunch, everyone is waiting on Paul to arrive, as it is to celebrate his engagement to Emma Hobday. It is revealed that she was due to engage Paul’s older brother James, but he had died in the Great War. Thereafter it is revealed that the Niven’s had lost their sons as well.
Later on, after Paul leaves, Jane explores his family home before returning to the Niven’s manor. On arriving, Jane sees Mr. Niven, seemingly unresponsive, who informs her that Paul has been in a fatal car accident, and the two proceed to go to the Sheringhams manor to inform the staff, all the while Jane is restraining her grief as her relationship with Paul was secret.
Later Jane is shown working at a book store, where she meets and later goes on to marry Donald. He is a philosopher, and together the two enjoy each others company and share in their success as she becomes an accomplished author. Years later, Donald suffers from and dies of a tumour, with Jane being left heartbroken once again. She is later shown to have received yet another accolade for her work, signifying that she has been able to channel her emotions and experiences through her work.
‘Mothering Sunday’ is a film of considerable length, and even though it spans the lifetime of its main character, the movie feels its length, as it is drawn out by a multitude of scenes showing Jane observe the individuals and objects around her. To successfully deliver the entirety of a characters emotional and professional development would conceivably require some time, yet ‘Mothering Sunday’ seems to squander its precious runtime on the wrong features of the characters doings.
Even though the key element of the film is to depict the development of Jane as a writer and the evolution of her process that will later no doubt be transcribed and committed to her work, feels painstakingly long, and instead of inviting the viewer to appreciate the characters exercise in studying the world around her, we are left waiting for her to be done and for the plot to advance.
Jane’s development is greatly impacted by her first love – their time together, the connection they form and ultimately the tragic end of that relationship. The film delivers on walking us through the intimate bond that Jane forms, greatly impacting her later in life. However, the film also tries to mix in a thread about the Great War, speaking on the loss that was suffered by those left behind. The B-plot here doesn’t seem to meld with the main story and at times even appears to abruptly interrupt the main narrative and cause a jarring shift in tone. The tragedies of WWI could serve to add to the gravity of a story from that time, yet does little to have a significant impact on the main character and the film as a whole.
The stand out performance in the film is Odessa Young, who portrays Jane Fairchild. Young’s delivery of the initially naive and unassuming Jane provides for a stark contrast to the older, more advanced and more confident Jane who over the years has come into her own, realised her passion as a writer and has become successful in doing what she enjoys. Young’s earlier depiction of Jane as a housekeeper encompasses the woman’s discovery of love and belonging, allowing the audience to share in her new experiences and surprises, with Young evoking the heightened emotions of young love, delivering the intense sensations and the passion with which Young’s Jane is falling in love. Conversely, Young masterfully delivers on the opposite end of the spectrum as she suffers the tragic loss of her love and eventually manages to hone the entirety of her experiences into developing her craft.
Additionally, even though the cast comprises of Olivia Colman and Colin Firth, portraying Mrs. and Mr. Niven respectively, the accomplished thespians have little screen time and contribute little to the narrative. The well known actors do the most they can with the material that is given to them, but their limited presence raises the question of why they chose to commit to the project, as their talents seem to have been misspent here.
Even though the film has a stand-out performance delivered by Odessa Young, the movie feels lengthy and at times too introspective, as it attempts to capture every moment that denotes the protagonists development as a keen observer. The project also seems to suffer from having wasted the talents of Olivia Colman and Colin Firth, as the two are capable of much more than what has been delivered to the screen here.
Score: 2/4
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