Mother

John has been divorced twice and writes science fiction. His last book went badly and he cannot write anything new. He forms a theory: all his trouble comes from his relationship with his mother. The solution seems simple; he will move back into her house and run the experiment there. Beatrice is surprised but agrees. John restores his old room to how it was in his childhood. Then he starts observing: the old cheese in her fridge, the telephone calls, the attention she gives his brother. Beatrice does not talk about her own life. One day he finds something in a cupboard. Albert Brooks directs, co-wrote the screenplay and plays John. Debbie Reynolds plays Beatrice and Rob Morrow his brother Jeff; Lisa Kudrow is in the cast. It is an American production, made in 1996. Debbie Reynolds returned to the cinema for the part after a long absence and her performance was among the most discussed of the period. The matter it treats is not being understood; John sees his mother as a problem and has never thought about her own life. The humour is dry and rests on observation; the fridge scene is its best known passage. The narrative offers no cheap reconciliation; the relationship is not put right by a conversation. There is sibling jealousy in it too and Beatrice treats the two brothers differently. The film proceeds in one location with few characters. Its limit is scale; the narrative is small, there is little event, and the pace slow. Who it is for: viewers who like Albert Brooks's comedies and family films. Who it is not for: it is slow, dry, and the ending quiet.