Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: MUTTER - THE DIARY OF A MOTHER [Tribeca Film Festival - New York, New York]
The essence of creature intent and the essence of what a mother is reflects in the notion of understanding but unconditional love. As seen in “Mutter: The Diary Of A Mother” [Escape From Tribeca], it is a nightmarish scenario but one bathed in metaphor and truth. Set in Turkey, the looming context of Chernobyl rings years later. While the reality of it is not as dangerous, the parable of it is. The opening scene as an expectant mother Gul (Hazar Erguclu) is being raced to what would be considered a hospital on a muddy road but ends up giving birth in the car. But it is something she didn’t expect nor her husband and he springs away and disappears. Hence the continuation of the film is bathed in both her essence of survival and her depth of despair as we see everything (which might be her psyche) crumbling around her. Her house is decaying all around her while her offspring survives and yet her understanding or protection of it is fairly steadfast. It is a reflection of the society but also the state of the world. It is survival of the fittest but as writer/director Alpha Eseli explained in the Q&A it came from a personal place. But what makes it work is the slow reveal of the creature. And how it was created is very important but won’t be revealed here.
Gul is a beautiful woman but everyone sees her as a liability. An interaction at a butcher store or even with her husband’s former boss speaks to the subjugation of the part of the world she lives in. One tracking shot after she rebels shows how much it affects her but it never turns away. As the film progresses, Gul cannot really catch a break but is resigned to her situation. Her violence is bathed not in retribution but neither in fear nor resignation. She does thinks of herself at one point and the guilt is wonderfully represented. Erguclu, who is well known in Turkey, said that this is unlike anything she has done. It is not an easy role and is physically and emotionally demanding. But for as bleak as it is, "Mutter" does give wisps of Del Toro’s creature feature awe though this has less wonder. However it makes the decisions Gul makes have more poignance. The question is did she ever have a choice? Like Gretel in the woods, the rot of the humanity around Gul is what destroys her life. However there is never a sense that her situation would ever make her more than a pariah. She knows that and the film never lets up on that pressure. “Mutter” knows the darkness of the world it introduces its baby into but understands that the eventual progression has to be one both of empathy and survival but that each are not mutually independent. B
By Tim Wassberg
