The Trailer:
Director: Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz
Cast: Lukas Schwartz, Elias Schwarz, & Susanne Wuest
Plot Summary: Twin brothers, Lukas (Lukas Schwartz) and Elias (Elias Schwarts) fear, after their mother (Susanne Wuest) undergoes reconstructive surgery, that the woman under the bandages is not their mother.
Let me first say that Goodnight Mommy is definitely not for everyone: It's a subtle, psychological, chilling, unsettling tale. It's not a jump-scare, extravagant, Hollywood horror flick. This movie strips itself of all the bells and whistles expected of the horror genre, and instead lends itself to raw, sterility that allows for it's suspense to steep, slowly, into our minds. Oh, another reason why it may not be for everyone: it's a foreign movie with subtitles (ahh, the horror!).
The usage of twins will always be creepy, and here in Goodnight Mommy that is no exception. The boys, who, at first, appear to be innocent children trapped in a home with a monstrous, less-than-loving mother transition into monsters in their own right. Their relationship with each other is one of dependence. One brother is always clinging to the other, as though they can't be separated, they are all they have. And when they are separated, there is a sense of loss and longing. And the two young actors, Lukas and Elias Schwartz, are an absolute joy to watch, since they are real brothers it's easy to believe that what we are shown through the film is who they are and how they act outside of it. Then there's the mother whom is distant and cold. It's apparent why the boys are afraid of her, this woman who is hidden behind a mask, who seems to always be adjusting to a life that she doesn't seem to fit in. There is a certain predictability to the movie (I'll get to that later) and yet there is still this tight-lined tension and sense of foreboding that is a constant.
Throughout the film we begin to question what we think we know of their reality. Nothing is as it seems, everything has a tinge of bizarre, strangeness to it. I began to question my theories and hypothesis that I'd made early on in the film, because every time I thought I had it all figured out, I was wrong. It was a tug-o-war of "what's going on" and "oh, I know what's happening". There are a lot of elements that lead to the unsettling feeling throughout, such as the setting. The house they live in is huge, but empty. There is an echo of what life was like before the accident (an ever-alluded to accident that is never explained), but has since been forgotten by each of the characters. There are each like ghosts living in some world that doesn't exist anymore or doesn't exist yet, it's hard to tell. Plus, their home is completely isolated and surrounded by a deep wood. They don't exist in a world outside of each other. As time goes on, the fear that the boys have of living with an impostor becomes overwhelming, it is a solid mass that gets bigger and bigger, and you'll start to fill with fear along with them. The subtle differences they begin to notice about their mother are strange, and since we have no knowledge of what she was like before her surgery we have to trust that there are differences present. And so every piece of evidence they find to support their case, we grow more and more wary with them. But then, there are subtle clues that the twins might be the ones faking. There are too many moments where their relationship just seems off and with that comes this strange feeling of distrust between us viewers and the protagonists. This fear that each one of them may be an impostor settles heavy down in our stomachs. Additionally, if you are an entomophobiac (a person with a fear of bugs), this may not be the movie for you. Though bugs, roaches more accurately, aren't shown often there are weird scenes with them included, so beware. The cinematography is also quite fantastic in creating an aura of fear. Like I mentioned before, everything is very sterile, crisp and without color in the house. Outside, mostly everything is too bright and over-saturated with color, a clear juxtaposition with what is happening inside the house.
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of Goodnight Mommy. It is creepy with an organic, artistic edge to it. The acting's great and the story is bare, but worthy. It is as much a psychological horror of two brothers warring with their own imagination and reality as it is a tale of how sometimes the fragile line of trust between parent and child can be easily broken. I will warn, though, that the ending doesn't answer any of the questions that you'll likely have. Actually, the ending will muddy up what you thought was going on. You'll be left with more questions, which for me is a good thing, but for some that is not satisfying. I would definitely watch this again. And I suggest you watch it too, even if you don't like foreign movies. Just give it a try, ehh?
Spoilers???
Okay, this is a spoiler, but kind of not. I have to believe that the writers of the movie wanted us to know that Lukas was dead, I have to believe that or else I have to face the fact that they hid that detail poorly. There are too many obvious clues that point to it for it not to be intentional, you know? But even with that "twist" (if it is a twist), there are still too many unanswered questions. Like what the fuck was with the mother when she walked into the woods naked? And who killed the cat? Was the mother an impostor? What's with the weird reunion in the cornfield at the end. I do have a theory that answers that one question, at least.
After about thirty minutes of mind-numbing torture to the mother (oh yeah, the movie jarringly shifts from psychological horror to torture horror), Elias then sets the house on fire with the mother in it. It appears that he escapes, but I actually don't believe he did. I think he died in the fire as well and in the end the family is finally united together, happily, in the afterlife. Or maybe there is more to the story. It's just a hunch, but somehow at the end in the reunion between the mother and the twins, it seems as though they are smirking, like their laughing at us. They tricked us somehow, but I'm not sure exactly how, you know?
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