GOODNIGHT MOMMY is the feature debut of aunt-nephew duo Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala (THE LODGE, THE DEVIL'S BATH). Patient, tense and psychologically disturbed, this movie drew me in and kept me guessing all the way to the end.
Twin brothers Lukas and Elias (Lukas & Elias Schwarz) live in pastoral Germany, spending their summer days exploring pitch-black tunnels, bouncing on trampolines during rainstorms, harboring any stray cat or gigantic cockroach who happens to cross their path - typical 9-year-old shit.
This idyllic season grinds to a halt when their mother (Susanne Wuest) returns from the hospital, head covered in bandages post-cosmetic surgery. She asks them to keep the house's blinds drawn, leave any newly discovered animals outside wherever the fuck they've found them, and for the love of God, just play quietly.
Reasonable demands at first but the mother starts to grow impatient with the boys. She'll split them up, instruct one not to talk to the other, increasingly losing her temper. It also doesn't help that she mostly keeps herself cooped up in her room, not addressing or barely acknowledging the boys unless they trigger her ire. This isn't how a mother behaves. Is this lady even their mother? No. She must not be. Who is this intruder and what does she want with the twins?
GOODNIGHT MOMMY excels in drawing me into the boys' points of view, almost like a perverted Amblin film. These kids have no qualms regarding taking responsibility into their own hands, investigating, interrogating their "mom." The entire movie is constructed like an elaborate tightrope walk, throwing in the right red herrings and turns in order to keep me on my toes, never comfortable affirming any conclusions to which I've arrived.
And this finale? This last 20, 30 minutes? Some of the most disturbing visuals since I last watched Miike's AUDITION. It's different when kids are involved; what can I say?
GOODNIGHT MOMMY is available to watch on Tubi.
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