Mother, May I?

Writer and Director: Laurence Vannicelli

Although marketed as a ‘horror’ movie and relentlessly tense Mother, May I? written and directed by Laurence Vannicelli contains few moments which viewers might expect in a scary film. But then promoting the movie as a psychological thriller or domestic drama might have deterred potential audiences, which would be a shame as this is a darkly compelling film.

Having been abandoned by his mother as a child Emmett (Kyle Gallner) is disconcerted, after her death, to inherit her luxurious farmhouse. Continuing to feel resentment Emmett wishes to cut his final connection to his late parent by selling the property as soon as possible.

However, the relationship between Emmett and his fiancé Anya (Holland Roden) is under strain and the latter insists they try to understand each other by using role reversal games to articulate the emotions or motivations they believe the other person is feeling. Anya believes Emmett’s desire for a child is rooted in a need to repair his broken childhood. In that respect Emmett is close to his late mother whose diaries suggest, for her, motherhood was a compulsion not a choice.

The mind games take a scary turn when Anya experiments with psilocybin mushrooms and adopts the mannerisms and behaviour patterns of Emmett’s late mother- dressing to the nines, becoming obsessively tidy and generally behaving like a diva. But Emmett begins to worry there may be a supernatural cause and that Anya has been possessed by his mother’s spirit.

Holland Roden gives a creepy performance as the possibly possessed Anya, making uncomfortably intimate gestures towards Emmett – wiping a fragment of food from his lips. Roden captures the sense of violation – coming out of the possession spell and seeming disconcerted even ashamed as if someone else has been using her body.

Kyle Gallner brings a simmering resentment and barely controlled anger to the role of Emmett. There is the sense of him transferring his resentment of his mother onto his fiancé. During their role reversal sessions, he insultingly adopts feminine mannerisms to mock Anya’s poetic pretentions and her lack of success. While Anya uses the sessions to explore her underlying feelings and concerns Emmett becomes aggressive and confrontational.

The theme of identity runs through Mother, May I? Photographs at the farmhouse show Emmett’s mother was artistically inclined – she is captured in a stylised dance pose- but there is no indication (other than the grand farmhouse) of success. As Anya is pursuing, with apparently limited success, an artistic career there is the possibility Emmett’s choice of a wife shows he is trying to marry his mother.

There are few supernatural moments in the film – Anya’s sudden belief in possession is reflected in her being surrounded by spooky images of grasping hands. In the main, however, writer and director Laurence Vannicelli maintains the nail-biting tension by concentrating on the deteriorating relationship between the couple and the strain on their mental health.

Vannicelli maintains the suspense to the ambiguous closing moments of the film. The approach is not, however, without humour. A terrifying scene of Emmett testing to destruction the possibility Anya might be possessed is followed, after a rapid cut, by Anya, not unreasonably storming off in her car while a hapless Emmett stands by unable to justify his behaviour.

Although not a conventional horror movie Mother, May I? creeps under the skin and remains in the memory long after the credits roll.

Vertigo Releasing presentsMother,MayI? on digital platforms 21 August 2023.