The Eyes of My Mother is a 2016 American horror film written, edited and directed by Nicolas Pesce, making his directorial debut. The film was produced by Borderline Presents and Tandem Pictures.
It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival to a polarizing reception and was immediately acquired by Magnet Releasing.
Main cast:
Diana Agostini, Olivia Bond, Will Brill, Joey Curtis-Green, Flora Diaz, Kika Magalhaes, Clara Wong.
Plot:
In their secluded farmhouse, a mother, formerly a surgeon in Portugal, teaches her daughter, Francisca, to understand anatomy and be unfazed by death.
One afternoon, a mysterious visitor shatters the idyll of Francisca’s family life, deeply traumatizing the young girl, but also awakening unique curiosities. Though she clings to her increasingly reticent father, Francisca’s loneliness and scarred nature converge years later when her longing to connect with the world around her takes on a dark form…
Reviews:
“The Eyes of My Mother is both strange and strangely enthralling… Pesce cleverly keeps most of the actual violence offscreen, with sound effects, suggestive cuts and outwardly quiet but entirely horrifying images — such as little Francisca mopping blood off a tiled floor — doing most of the heavy lifting.” Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter
“In many ways, it plays less as a narrative feature and more like a terrifying thought you do your best to shake out of your head as quickly as possible. While this is clearly Pesce’s intention and the cosmetics are top-notch, the film never works as much more than a cinematic experiment solely focused on only the absolute worst inclinations of human nature.” Dan Mecca, The Film Stage
“Pesce and his superb d.p. are sure to make every image we do see count. There are individual frames here, whether of corpses milkily enveloped in a bathtub or blood-smeared fingerprints on a refrigerator door, that hover on the precipice of dreamscape, and may linger in that realm for some viewers long after watching.” Guy Lodge, Variety
“The striking cinematography is what will hit you first, and it plays into an unnerving mood that carries throughout. This feels like an uncertain time and place, while the film is caught somewhere between a Grimms fairytale, Polanski-esque unease and Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs.” Jonathan Hatfull, SciFiNow.co.uk
“From its black-and-white presentation to its minimalist construction the film cries out arthouse, but there’s a sense it’s trying way too hard. Scenes that should be shocking end up being strangely comical, like when Annie – now fully grown – picks up a woman at a bar (Clara Wong) and tells her matter-of-factly that she killed her father and enjoys dissecting cows’ eyes, before murdering her and putting the body parts in the fridge.” Lanre Bakare, The Guardian
Cast and characters:
- Diana Agostini as Mother
- Olivia Boand as Young Francisca
- Will Brill as Charlie
- Joey Curtis-Green as Antonio
- Flora Diaz as Lucy
- Kika Magalhaes as Francisca
- Paul Nazak as Father
- Clara Wong as Kimiko
