Laura Bispuri’s Daughter of Mine at the Sydney Film Festival.
Laura Bispuri’s follow-up to Sworn Virgin (SFF 2015) returns in an emotional, Sardinia-set story of a young girl torn between two mothers. 10 year-old Vittoria is loved dearly by her protective mother (Valeria Golino) and taciturn father and brought up in stable environment in their small Sardinian community. Nearby, living in relative decrepitude, is Angelica (Rohrwacher), who is facing eviction for her failure to pay taxes. The unpredictable Angelica, who is frequently drunk and prone to unfortunate assignations with the men of the town, makes a final request before she leaves: she would like to spend some time with Vittoria. From the moment she first sees Angelica, the little girl suspects that she is her birth mother, and she quickly becomes drawn to the tempestuous, independent woman. Bispuri says: “For centuries women have been framed by the ideal of the perfect mother...
Daughter of Mine starts from an archaic and visceral maternal feeling and then tries to open up the discussion in more contemporary terms, offering a new, different vision, a vision in which both mothers are actually Vittoria’s mothers.” Psychologically complex, unflinching and emotionally raw, Daughter of Mine features absolutely fearless performances by its excellent cast.
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