The cross hangs heavy in the opening shot of Maternal, the first narrative feature from Italian documentary filmmaker Maura Delpero. In this introduction, we see a young and beautiful Argentinian nun who is about to start her first day in a new hogar–a convent that houses and supports young single mothers and pregnant women. She gives her crucifix one last squeeze before leaving the car and the weight of the gesture is clearly felt.
The Catholic Church remains, for good reason, one of the most bloated fish in the barrel–the lowest of hanging fruits–but Delpero’s film, to its credit, neither shoots or grabs. The director visited four hogars while researching Maternal and says the only reason she chose the Catholic one was that it seemed to have the most interesting hierarchal system. Faith thus gives a significant edge to Delpero’s story but the film is...
The Catholic Church remains, for good reason, one of the most bloated fish in the barrel–the lowest of hanging fruits–but Delpero’s film, to its credit, neither shoots or grabs. The director visited four hogars while researching Maternal and says the only reason she chose the Catholic one was that it seemed to have the most interesting hierarchal system. Faith thus gives a significant edge to Delpero’s story but the film is...
- 8/13/2019
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
In an environment where the Virgin Mary is held up as the exemplar of motherhood, how does that ideal square with the noisier, messier, considerably less virginal reality of maternal life? That question lies at the heart of “Maternal,” a moving, lively study of conflicting duties and desires in a Buenos Aires hogar — a convent-based refuge for young single mothers — that marks an assured shift into narrative filmmaking for Italian docmaker Maura Delpero. Mixing starkly composed formalism with more organic, observational material of a piece with her non-fiction background, Delpero’s film most surprisingly risks a full lunge into melodrama with its story of a young foreign novitiate forming a contentiously deep attachment to one of the children in her care.
That’s a tricky range of registers to balance, but “Maternal” mostly does so with sensitivity and conviction. Premiering in the main competition at Locarno, this Argentine-Italian co-production will likely enjoy a long,...
That’s a tricky range of registers to balance, but “Maternal” mostly does so with sensitivity and conviction. Premiering in the main competition at Locarno, this Argentine-Italian co-production will likely enjoy a long,...
- 8/10/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
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