Odessa Young Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,’ starring Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young, Gaby Hoffmann and Matthew Pellicano Jr.

September 29, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere”

Directed by Scott Cooper

Culture Representation: Taking place from December 1981 to September 1982 (with flashbacks to 1957) in New Jersey, New York, and California, the dramatic film “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” (based on real events and the non-fiction book “Deliver Me From Nowhere”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Bruce Springsteen writes and records his deliberately non-commercial 1982 album “Nebraska,” as he struggles with depression and comes to terms with how his father’s alcoholism affected his childhood.

Culture Audience: “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of Springsteen, the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Scott Cooper, and thoughtfully made movies about celebrities and coping with past trauma.

Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” (Photo by Macall Polay/20th Century Studios)

This well-acted drama has a riveting portrayal of Bruce Springsteen when he made his 1982 album “Nebraska” while he battled depression and traumatic memories. It’s somber, introspective, and hopeful, but doesn’t look entirely candid about unflattering info. In this memorable movie, which can’t avoid some “hero worship” tendencies, Springsteen is portrayed as a little too “squeaky clean” to be completely believable as someone who was a rock star for several years at this point in his life.

Written and directed by Scott Cooper (who is also one of the producers of the movie), “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is adapted from Warren Zanes’ 2023 non-fiction book “Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.” The movie “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” had its world premiere at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival and its New York premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival, where the real Springsteen did a short, surprise performance at the premiere event. For the purposes of this review, the real Bruce Springsteen will be referred to by his last name, while the character of Bruce Springsteen in the movie will be referred to by his first name.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” portrays two versions of Bruce Springsteen: The main version is 32-year-old bachelor Bruce (played by Jeremy Allen White), during the period of December 1981 to September 1982. The other version is 8-year-old Bruce (played by Matthew Pellicano Jr.) in flashback scenes that take place in 1957. Most of the movie takes place in Bruce’s home state of New Jersey, but some scenes take place in New York and California. “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” was filmed partially at Steiner Studios in New York City.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” begins with one of these flashback scenes, by showing boyhood Bruce riding his bicycle on a street in his hometown of Freehold, New Jersey. It starts out looking like a carefree scene, but then the truth about Bruce’s childhood is soon revealed: His father was an abusive alcoholic, while his mother was a co-dependent who stayed in the marriage.

Bruce’s mother Adele Springsteen (played by Gaby Hoffmann) drives Bruce to a local bar, where his father Douglas “Doug” Springsteen (played by Stephen Graham) has apparently been for hours. Adele tells Bruce to go inside the bar in a way that indicates this isn’t the first time Bruce is going to do what he’s about to do. Bruce approaches his inebriated father and says, “Daddy, mom says it’s time to come home.” When the family members are at home, Bruce looks frightened and sad while he sits on his bed and hears his parents loudly arguing behind closed doors.

This troubling scene then abruptly cuts to 1981, when a sweat-drenched Bruce is on stage performing his 1975 signature breakthrough song “Born to Run” to a cheering and packed arena audience. It’s the end of his successful tour for his multiplatinum 1980 album “The River” (his fifth studio album), which is best known for the hit single “Hungry Heart.” To the outside world, Bruce has what most rock musicians want: fame, adulation, industry respect, hit albums and lucrative tours.

But on the inside, Bruce is dealing with emotionally crippling memories of his childhood, shown in flashbacks throughout the movie. His unresolved trauma is affecting every aspect of his life, including how he sleeps, what songs he writes, and how he handles personal relationships. For Bruce, his greatest love is music, but even that isn’t enough to soothe the type of emotional pain that he is experiencing.

The movie portrays Bruce as someone who hangs out with the members his E Street Band only when he’s working with them. Therefore, don’t expect the movie to have any insights into the band members’ personalities. The band members are only in the movie to be backup musicians in certain scenes of Bruce performing on stage and working in the recording studio. In addition to being a singer and a guitarist, Bruce is the only songwriter for almost all of the songs that he records. Marc Maron has a small role as music producer Chuck Plotkin.

Bruce is barely shown having conversations with the E Street Band members depicted in the movie: guitarist Steve Van Zandt (played by Johnny Cannizzaro), saxophonist Clarence Clemons (played by Judah L. Sealy), keyboardist Roy Bittan (played by Charlie Savage), drummer Max Weinberg (played by Brian Chase), bass guitarist Garry Tallent (played by Mike Chiavaro), and organist/ accordionist Danny Federici (played by Andrew Fisher). Patti Scialfa, who would become Springsteen’s second wife, joined the E Street Band as a backup vocalist in 1984, and is therefore not depicted in this movie.

The Bruce shown in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is a loner who wants to record demo tracks for the album that would become “Nebraska” in his bedroom, with only one engineer—Mike “Mikey” Batlan (played by Paul Walter Hauser)—in attendance for any technical issues. The character of Mike is in the movie for less than 15 minutes, but he’s shown as the person who introduced Bruce to the portable recording equipment that Bruce uses to record these demos. Bruce has already made up his mind that he wants “Nebraska” to be a no-frills, stripped-down album that doesn’t have songs that sound like pop hits.

When Bruce does venture outside, it’s usually to hang out in a low-key, non-celebrity way at local diners. This is in an era when there are no smartphones, no Internet and no social media to obsessively document what famous people do in their free time. Paparazzi photographers do not hang out where Bruce likes to go. And in case you didn’t know it was 1981, the movie reminds viewers with cued soundtrack songs, such as Foreigner’s “Urgent” and Santana’s “Winning.”

How much of a “regular guy” is Bruce in this movie? Even though he’s been a rock star for at least six years since his “Born to Run” breakthrough, there’s a scene where he’s shown buying a black Chevy 305 at a car lot, and Bruce comments to the car salesman (played by T. Ryder Smith) that this is the first time he’s ever owned a new car. The salesman compliments Bruce by calling him a “handsome-devil rock star” and says, “I know who you are.” Bruce replies, “That makes one of us.”

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” also has some subtle and not-so-subtle indications that at this point in his life, Bruce is famous but he isn’t rich. It’s mentioned that his net profit from “The River” tour was only $20,000. He lives in a modest house in New Jersey. And if it’s taken him this long to buy a new car, then it’s probably because he had to be careful with his money.

Bruce has generated millions of dollars in revenue by 1981, but where did all that money go? It’s indicative of bad contracts that artists often sign when they’re desperate to get a big break. This type of exploitation entails a whole other set of issues that the movie does not address at all, probably because it would interfere with the almost saintly way that Bruce’s manager Jon Landau (played by Jeremy Strong) is depicted in the movie. Artist exploitation is one of several noticeable things that the movie glosses over or ignores when it comes to realities in the music business for an artist like Springsteen.

Bruce can’t stay away from performing for too long when he’s not on tour. He goes back to the Stone Pony nightclub, a venue in Asbury Park, New Jersey, which is famous for being the place that regularly booked Springsteen before he was famous. There are multiple electrifying scenes where Bruce performs at the Stone Pony with a local band called Cats on a Smooth Surface. Real-life musicians portray the unnamed members of Cats on a Smooth Surface, such as Rival Sons lead singer Jay Buchanan, Greta Van Fleet lead guitarist Jake Kiszka, Greta Van Fleet bass guitarist Sam F. Kiszka, drummer Aksel Coe and keyboardist Henry Hey.

In the movie, Bruce is first seen performing at the Stone Pony with Cats on a Smooth Surface when they do a rousing version of Little Richard’s “Lucille.” After this show, a fan named Joey Romano (played by Jeff Adler), who is a former high school classmate of Bruce’s, approaches Bruce to say hello. Joey introduces Bruce to Joey’s younger sister Faye Romano (played by Odessa Young), who is also a fan but trying to play it cool.

Bruce remembers Joey from high school because they were classmates, but he doesn’t remember Faye, because she was a few years behind them in school. Joey is obviously trying to play matchmaker and leaves the conversation so Bruce and Faye can talk alone. Bruce tells Faye that he’s “kind of seeing someone,” but she gives her phone number to Bruce anyway, in case he wants to casually hang out with her. He ends up taking her up on her offer.

Faye is a single mother to a daughter named Haley (played by twins Vienna Barrus and Vivienne Barrus), who’s about 4 or 5 years old. Before Faye and Bruce have their first official date, Faye mentions she has a habit of choosing the wrong men as intimate partners. And when Bruce asks where Haley’s father is, it should come as no surprise that Faye describes him as a deadbeat dad who doesn’t want to be in contact with them. Faye says that she and Haley are better off without Haley’s father.

The romance between Bruce and Faye is sweet, but people with enough life experience already know what is mostly likely to happen to this relationship. The movie all but telegraphs it when Bruce becomes more absorbed with writing and recording the album that would become “Nebraska.” Faye learns the hard way that brilliant and talented artists often put their art above everything else, so it’s difficult for her to deal with feeling that Bruce isn’t paying enough attention to her after they become lovers.

Jon is depicted as Bruce’s loyal protector, who never second-guesses Bruce’s decisions. Jon staunchly defends Bruce when skeptical Columbia Records executives such as Al Teller (played by David Krumholtz) hear the “Nebraska” demos and are frustrated that none of the songs sounds like a hit single. Jon is also adamant when he tells Columbia that Bruce has decided that there will be no singles, no touring and no press for “Nebraska.”

In real life, this would be a major fight behind the scenes for artists to have this type of control, but there’s hardly any debate about it in the movie. Jon just “lays down the law,” and executives at Columbia just agree to it, with almost no pushback. No one even curses in discussions about this radical marketing strategy for an album. They have fairly civil conversations about it.

Get real. This is the music business, where an artist like Springsteen is responsible for making millions of dollars for many people. There’s no way that in real life that Jon Landau, Columbia executives, attorneys, and many other necessary people didn’t get into protracted disputes about Springsteen’s refusal to tour, release singles or do press for the “Nebraska” album. Instead, the movie unrealistically makes it look like Landau was able to easily persuade Columbia to do what Bruce wanted.

Similarly, when it comes to any “sex, drugs and rock and roll” depicted in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” the movie makes Bruce look almost like a choir boy. There’s no mention of Bruce ever indulging in drugs, alcohol, sex with groupies, or even smoking cigarettes. The sex scene that Bruce and Faye have is very tame, with no nudity. His lifestyle in the movie looks too sanitary to be believed. “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” needed more realistic grit to make it look more honest.

Despite these shortcomings, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” has terrific portrayals of Bruce as a creative artist, thanks to White’s committed performance. White does his own singing on the Springsteen songs “Born to Run,” “Nebraska,” “Atlantic City,” “Mansion on a Hill,” “I’m on Fire,” “State Trooper,” “Reason to Believe,” “Highway Patrolman,” “Born in the U.S.A.” and “My Father’s House.” Although he doesn’t physically resemble the real Springsteen, White admirably captures the spirit and swagger of a man trying to hold his life together when he feels like he’s falling apart inside.

Strong’s portrayal of manager Jon is not as a flamboyant, larger-than-life personality who wants to be famous too, which is a stereotype of many real-life managers of music superstars. Instead, Jon comes across as a fan who is happy to carry out Bruce’s wishes. (Landau’s background as a former music journalist is not mentioned in the movie.) Jon, who gives compassionate and helpful advice to Bruce, is not quite a “yes man” enabler who will agree with bad decisions, simply because the movie makes it look like Bruce’s instincts and decisions are always right when it comes to his music and career. It’s just all too good to be entirely true.

The person who gives the best supporting actor performance in the movie is Graham as Bruce’s troubled father Doug, who is (depending on the situation) a bully, a pathetic lost soul and/or someone who tries (but often fails) to be a good father. Doug thinks getting in fist fights is the way to resolve certain problems. When Bruce was a child, Doug put pressure on Bruce to learn how to box when Bruce clearly didn’t want to do it. Bruce’s mother Adele, who is loving and compassionate, stays with Doug during their volatile marriage, but lets it be known to Doug that she will choose to protact Bruce over Doug if necessary.

The movie hints but doesn’t explicitly show that there was domestic violence in the Springsteen household. At the very least, Doug’s alcoholism caused him to be verbally abusive. When Bruce is an adult, Doug’s alcoholism is worse and leads to some harrowing incidents after Adele and Doug moved to California. Graham’s portrayal of Doug shows Doug to be heinous at times and heartbreaking at other times but always realistically human. A big tearjerker moment in the movie is a scene of Doug and adult Bruce backstage after one of Bruce concerts.

Young and Hoffmann do quite well in their roles as Faye and Adele, the two women with the most screen time and most dialogue for women in the movie. However, Adele and Faye mostly exist in the movie to portray “good mothers.” Almost everything they do is in reaction to what the men in their lives are doing. Bruce Springsteen’s real-life sister Pamela is depicted briefly as a child named Virginia Springsteen (played by Arrabella Olivia Clarke), in a scene where Doug takes Bruce and Virginia to play in an open field near a stranger’s mansion. Other than that scene, Pamela or any acknowledgement that Springsteen has a sibling is erased from this story.

Bruce’s songwriting and recording sessions are entertaining and fascinating in the movie but don’t reveal much that would be considered new information to die-hard Springsteen fans. As shown in the movie, some of the songs that he wrote in isolation in Colts Neck, New Jersey (such as “Born in the U.S.A.” and “I’m on Fire”), would end up on his 1984 blockbuster album “Born in the U.S.A.” Bruce and his longtime friend Toby Scott (played by Bartley Booz) take a road trip to California after Bruce decides to move to the Los Angeles area to finish “Nebraska.” But that trip is rushed into the movie, when it could’ve been better used as an opportunity to show Bruce in situations that don’t revolve around him making music. The completion of “Nebraska” is breezed over with a fast-forward that takes place 10 months later.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” is a glimpse into a short but impactful time in Springsteen’s life. The movie offers some trivia information that many fans might already know, such as Springsteen being influenced by the 1973 movie “Badlands,” by writing a song also titled “Badlands.” “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” also has a scene where Jon tells Bruce that screenwriter/director Paul Schrader (who’s not seen in the movie) wants Robert De Niro and Bruce to co-star in Schrader’s “Born in the U.S.A.” movie, which later became the 1987 movie “Light of Day,” starring Michael J. Fox in the role that was originally conceived for Springsteen.

As expected, the musical selections in “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” are satisfying and placed very well in each scene. Aside from being a better-than-average movie about a music legend, “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” has a lot of merit for giving a responsible depiction of coping with mental health issues. The movie might not tell all about the “man behind the myth,” but it shows enough humanity for people to see some of the real-life struggles behind the sheen of a celebrity image.

20th Century Studios will release “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” in U.S. cinemas on October 24, 2025. The movie will be released on digital on December 23, 2025. “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” will be released on 4K Blu-ray on January 20, 2026.

Review: ‘The Damned’ (2025), starring Odessa Young, Joe Cole, Siobhan Finneran, Rory McCann, Turlough Convery, Lewis Gribben, Francis Magee and Mícheál Óg Lane

February 3, 2025

by Carla Hay

Joe Cole and Odessa Young in “The Damned” (Photo courtesy of Vertical)

“The Damned” (2025)

Directed by Thordur Palsson

Culture Representation: Taking place in Iceland’s Westfjords region in 1870, the horror film “The Damned” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class.

Culture Clash: Fishing workers in a remote part of Iceland encounter strangers and a possible supernatural killer on the loose.

Culture Audience: “The Damned” will appeal mainly to people who don’t mind watching well-acted horror movies that aren’t about non-stop violent scares but are more about psychological torment.

Pictured clockwise, from left: Joe Cole, Lewis Gribben, Rory McCann, Turlough Convery, Mícheál Óg Lane, and Francis Magee in “The Damned” (Photo courtesy of Vertical)

“The Damned” is a “slow burn” psychological thriller about a widow leading a group of fishermen with a “survival of the fittest” attitude in a remote part of Iceland. It’s a horror film about the evil that can come from extreme mistrust. Some viewers might be bored by the movie’s deliberate pacing, or if they are expecting a typical slasher film. “The Damned” is more about toxic fear that can develop from being isolated.

Directed by Thordur Palsson and written by Jamie Hannigan, “The Damned” had its world premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival. The movie takes place in the winter of 1870, in a remote area in Iceland’s Westfjords region, where the movie was filmed on location. Certain viewers who might immediately be disinterested in watching this movie because of the time period and location because they might want to watch a movie taking place in modern times.

The main protagonist of “The Damned” is a young widow named Eva (played by Odessa Young), whose husband Magnus died the previous year, near the rocks at sea during a fishing expedition. Magnus was the owner of a fishing station business that employs fishermen for seasonal work and provides lodging for them during their employment. After the death of Magnus, Eva took over the business. Magnus and Eva did not have any children.

There is trouble brewing because of a decreasing supply of food. In the movie’s very first scene, Eva can be heard saying in a voiceover: “We should not be here. Magnus said it was a place of opportunity if you can enjoy the cold, the long nights, the hunger.”

As empty fish racks are shown, Eva says in the voiceover: “This time last year, all of these racks were full. Yesterday, we started eating the fish set aside for bait. The men don’t want to think of anything but the next day at sea. Perhaps, that way they can survive. But walking blindly into the dark is something I will not do.”

The fisherman are mostly roughneck types who are crude and not accustomed to a woman being their boss. Many are somewhat skeptical about Eva’s abilities to be a leader. However, whatever doubts that these fishermen have about Eva, they still know that she is their employer, so they follow her orders.

In an early scene in the movie, the fishermen are gathered at night around a table to drink alcohol and eat. The men tell Eva that Magnus had a tradition of giving the fishermen a drinking toast on a mid-winter’s night. Eva feels pressure to continue the tradition, and she gives a short and slightly awkward toast: “May the Lord protect you from hidden rocks, harmful creatures and dangerous pirates.”

The only other woman in this isolated group is middle-aged Helga (played by Siobhan Finneran), who has cooking and cleaning duties for the living quarters. Helga is very superstitious and is the person in the group who is most likely to tell folk tales and ways to ward off evil spirits. Helga has a certain flair for storytelling which can make people wonder if there’s some truth in what she’s saying.

When “The Damned” begins, about 10 fishermen are part of the crew that uses a large rowboat (owned by Eva) for their fishing duties. Daniel (played by Joe Cole) is close in age to Eva. There’s an unspoken attraction between Eva and Daniel. The movie shows whether or not Daniel and Eva act on this attraction. At one point, Eva tells Daniel: “Magnus was my family … The fishing station is all I have left.”

Many of the other fisherman are generic characters that don’t have significant speaking roles. However, some of the men are deliberately written as having noticeable personalities. Daniel is mostly a “good guy” who is genuinely respectful of Eva, unlike some of the other men, which is why Eva trusts him the most. Ragnar (played by Rory McCann) is aggressive and highly suspicious of people whom he considers to be “outsiders.”

Aron (played by Mícheál Óg Lane) is mostly mild-mannered and seems to have learning development that’s slower than the other men. Jonas (played by Lewis Gribben) is a very religious Christian. Skúli (played by Francis Magee) doesn’t believe in ghosts or anything supernatural. Hákon (played by Turlough Convery) is an unpredictable loose cannon.

“The Damned” has a total running time of 89 minutes. Not much happens for the first 20 minutes, but a pivotal point in the movie is when the Eva and the fishermen see a recent shipwreck from a distance. Eva agrees with Ragnar’s adamant opinion that they shouldn’t help anyone from this shipwreck because they can’t trust these strangers, and there isn’t enough food to accommodate anyone new in their small and isolated community.

At night, Eva accompanies the fishermen on the boat to get a closer look at the shipwreck and to see if they can take any valuables that were left behind. The shipwreck has some survivors, who try to fight their way on to boat. All hell breaks loose, setting the course of the rest of the story. The tone of “The Damned” is best described as “brooding and spooky” instead of “intensely scary.”

The cast members capably perform their roles “The Damned,” whose emotional core is primarily with Eva. Young gives a compelling performance in the role. The movie keeps viewers guessing if Eva has psychic abilities to see the supernatural or if she is mentally ill. Either way, as tensions begin to soar within the community, Eva sees disturbing things that affect her tenuous authority over the increasingly agitated fishermen.

Viewers who appreciate “The Damned” have to be open-minded enough to not expect a formulaic horror movie or an assumed outcome. The movie (which has excellent cinematography by Eli Arenson) gets a little repetitive, but it’s effective at showing how monotony and desperate starvation can erode relationships, trust and loyalty in a community. What’s most haunting about “The Damned” isn’t any real or imagined supernatural activity but how destructive inhumanity can be.

Vertical released “The Damned” in U.S. cinemas on January 3, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on January 21, 2025.

Review: ‘Mothering Sunday,’ starring Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù, Glenda Jackson, Olivia Colman and Colin Firth

April 8, 2022

by Carla Hay

“Mothering Sunday”

Directed by Eva Husson

Culture Representation: Taking place in unnamed parts of England from 1918 through the 1980s, the dramatic film “Mothering Sunday” features a nearly all-white cast of characters (with one black person) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A woman’s journey as a maid and as a successful author are shown at various points in her life, which includes impactful love affairs that she had with two very different men.

Culture Audience: “Mothering Sunday” will appeal primarily to people interested in artsy British movies that have very good acting but with slow pacing that might frustrate some viewers.

Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Odessa Young in “Mothering Sunday” (Photo by Robert Viglasky/Sony Pictures Classics)

“Mothering Sunday” can be too pretentious for its own good, but the cast members’ thoughtful performances enrich the quality of this slow-paced film. Viewers must also be willing to tolerate the movie’s non-chronological storytelling of love, tragedy and hope. Because the movie’s story spans several decades (from 1918 to the 1980s) and has a timeline that jumps all over the place, “Mothering Sunday” requires a viewer’s full attention to keep track of which period of time is happening for the film’s protagonist in her youth.

Directed by Eva Husson, “Mothering Sunday” (which takes place in unnamed parts of England) touches on issues of upward mobility, inner turmoil, and how social class affects the decisions people make in love and marriage. Alice Birch adapted the “Mothering Sunday” screenplay from Graham Swift’s 2016 novel of the same name. “Mothering Sunday” made the rounds at several major festivals in 2021, including the Cannes Film Festival (where the movie had its world premiere), the Toronto International Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival. Cinematically, the movie is sumptuous to look at, but following the story will test the patience of people with short attention spans or those who have no interest in British period dramas.

“Mothering Sunday” depicts parts of the adult life of Jane Fairchild, who goes from being a maid to becoming an award-winning, famous author whose specialty is fiction writing. That transformation isn’t shown right away, as Jane’s life is revealed in scenes that can best be compared to a patchwork quilt. Most of the movie shows Jane in her 20s (played by Odessa Young) in the 1920s, while there are a few, very brief scenes of Jane in her 80s (played by Glenda Jackson) in the 1980s. Jackson’s scenes as Jane get only about five minutes of screen time in the movie. “Mothering Sunday” only shows Jane in these two decades.

The story is told in a non-linear way in the movie, but there are visual clues (such as Jane’s hairstyles) to show what period of time in her life is being depicted in each scene of her youth. It’s eventually revealed that Jane is an orphan who has no known relatives. She was abandoned by her single mother at an orphanage when she was a baby or a toddler. Jane’s childhood is never really shown or explained in great detail, but she’s grown up to be an introverted loner.

Somehow, when Jane was in her late teens in 1918, she ended up working as a house maid for a wealthy married couple named Godfrey Niven (played by Colin Firth) and Clarrie Niven (played by Olivia Colman), who live on an estate called Beachwood House. Much of the movie takes place in 1924, when Jane has been employed by the Nivens for six years. At this point in her life, Jane doesn’t see herself as being anything but part of society’s working class, until she has a forbidden love affair that changes her life.

This romance is the catalyst for much of what happens in the story and why Jane decides to transform herself into becoming a writer. The man whom she falls in love with is Paul Sheringham (played by Tom O’Connor), the son of wealthy spouses Mr. and Mrs. Sheringham (played by Craig Crosbie and Emily Woof), who don’t have first names in the movie. In 1924, Paul is in law school but he’s not particularly passionate about becoming an attorney. He’s chosen this profession because it’s expected of him.

Paul’s two older brothers Dick and Freddy no longer live in the family mansion. “Mothering Sunday” opens with a voiceover narration that essentially tells that the Niven family and Sheringham family have both experienced the tragic deaths of their young adult sons. World War I is one reason, but there are other reasons for these untimely deaths. Jane can be heard saying, “Once upon a time, before the boys were killed,” as a horse is shown running in an open field.

Paul can then be heard telling Jane that his family used to own a thoroughbred racing horse named Fandango. Paul says there was a family joke about the horse where “Ma and Pa owned the head and the body. Dick, Freddy and I had a leg each.” Jane then asks, “What about the fourth leg?” Paul replies, “Ah, the fourth leg. That was always the question, Jane.” Toward the end of the movie, this fourth leg is mentioned again in a way that will either make viewers roll their eyes in ridicule or possibly bring viewers to tears.

The title of “Mothering Sunday” comes from a pivotal Mothering Sunday (the British version of Mother’s Day) in 1924. Godfrey (who is kind, respectful and optimistic) generously decides to give Jane the day off from work, even though she doesn’t have a mother in her life, and Jane isn’t a mother. Jane’s closest female friend is the Niven family cook: Milly (played by Patsy Ferran), who has a bubbly personality but is a little shy when it comes to dating and romance. Milly and Jane spend part of this day off together.

It just so happens that on this day, Paul will have the mansion all to himself. And so, he calls the Niven home, knowing that Jane will answer the phone, to tell her to come over so they can have a sexual tryst. Jane pretends it’s a wrong number when Clarrie asks who called. The movie never details how long Paul and Jane have been having these secret hookups, but there’s a flashback scene that shows the day that Paul and Jane met, which was in 1918, shortly after she began working for the Niven family.

Paul and Jane tell each other that they are each other’s best friend. They’re keeping their romance a secret not just because they come from different social classes but also because Paul is expected to marry someone in his social circle: a spoiled heiress named Emma Hobday (played by Emma D’Arcy), whose parents—Giles Hobday (played by Simon Shepherd) and Sylvia Hobday (played by Caroline Harker)—are good friends of the Sheringham spouses and the Niven spouses. Paul doesn’t love Emma, but he feels obligated to marry her to please both sets of parents and to produce heirs from this marriage.

The Niven spouses have a tension-filled marriage because Clarrie is in a deep depression over the death of her son James, who was nearly engaged to Emma before James was tragically killed in combat during World War I. James and Paul were close friends, so Paul opens up a little bit to Jane about how James’ death affected him. Emma’s thoughts about James’ death are never shown in the movie, which portrays Emma as one-dimensional and someone who pouts a lot.

Clarrie’s grief sometimes comes out in angry spurts. She often acts irritable with her husband Godfrey and insults him in public. When she’s not acting cranky and annoyed with the world, Clarrie is withdrawn and quiet. Clarrie also acts resentful if she sees other people being what she thinks is being too happy for her comfort level. However, there’s a pivotal moment between Clarrie and Jane later in the movie that shows Clarrie’s hostile exterior is really just a mask for being heartbroken. This moment between Clarrie and Jane is one of the best scenes in “Mothering Sunday.”

Fans of Oscar-winning stars Colman and Firth might be disappointed to know that Colman and Firth don’t have as much screen time in “Mothering Sunday” as their top billing would suggest. Firth and Colman are each in the movie for about 15 minutes. However, they make the most of their screen time in portraying these contrasting and conflicted spouses.

Jane and Paul’s secret love affair is about more than just sex. They connect on an intellectual level. Jane loves to read and often sneaks into the Niven family library to read their books. Paul and Jane also bond on an emotional level, because they both feel like misfits in their environment, where they are expected to live a certain way because of society’s stereotypes for people of certain social classes.

Although there are full-frontal nude scenes (male and female) in “Mothering Sunday,” they are more about natural intimacy than eroticism. The sex scenes are actually very tame, but the full-frontal nudity is the adult-oriented content that will make parents of underage children decide if they think if it’s appropriate for their children to watch this movie. It’s implied throughout “Mothering Sunday” that Paul is Jane’s first true love.

Viewers can speculate that the movie has more male nudity than female nudity because “Mother Sunday” has a “female gaze” from a woman director. However, it can just as easily be interpreted that because these trysts happen in the Sheringham home, Paul simply feels more comfortable walking around fully naked in family house. In comparison, Jane is a little more guarded because she would suffer worse consequences than Paul if she and Paul got caught.

On the Mothering Sunday that changes Jane’s life, Paul has decided to have a tryst with Jane while Emma, his parents and Emma’s parents are waiting for him to arrive at a luncheon that all six of them are supposed to have together. Paul is going to the luncheon, but he knows he’s going to be late. What happens that day is revealed slowly revealed in flashbacks.

“Mothering Sunday” doesn’t handle the transition very well in showing Jane’s life after she decides to become a professional writer. The introduction to this part of her life is non-chronological and it’s rushed into the movie in an abrupt manner. It’s in this part of Jane’s life that she is involved in another meaningful love affair.

His name is Donald (played by Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù), and he is also a published author. When Donald and Jane first met (which is shown in a flashback scene), she hadn’t yet become a professional writer. She was working in a bookstore, he was a customer, and they had an instant rapport. Jane and Donald are both loyal and supportive partners to each other. In contrast to Jane’s secretive relationship with Paul, the relationship between Donald and Jane is out in the open. However, the movie never addresses the fact that Jane and Donald are in an interracial relationship in the 1920s.

This lack of acknowledgement of this couple’s racial differences implies that they are living in a part of England where interracial relationships were more accepted than in other parts of England. Still, it does come across as very phony and willfully ignorant that the movie never shows Donald and Jane experiencing or talking about any prejudice from other people because of the couple’s interracial relationship. Even in the most open-minded and progressive areas of England, a black man and a white woman in a romantic relationship would still cause problems for this type of interracial couple in the 1920s.

There are other large gaps in Jane’s life that aren’t adequately explained. Viewers never get to see if Jane went through any struggles as a writer before she had her first book published. Donald and Jane’s courtship is also a big mystery. The movie jumps from Donald and Jane being close to getting married, to a flashback scene to how they met, to Donald proposing marriage and Jane’s response.

Throughout this movie’s very messy and haphazard timeline, Young gives a consistently transfixing performance as Jane, who is an interesting contrast of being verbally articulate yet hard-to-read with her inner emotions. O’Connor also handles his role with aplomb to show that Paul is not just another spoiled rich kid, although Paul sometimes acts that way. Dìrísù doesn’t have much to do in the movie, because Donald is a very underdeveloped character.

Viewers might be bored with a lot of characters in “Mothering Sunday,” but Jane remains an interesting enigma whose life journey can inspire a lot of curiosity. Jane has been taught for most of her life to repress her emotions, so when she discovers that she is an artist who wants to express her emotions through her writing, it’s a metamorphosis that is thrilling to behold. And most audiences will be rooting for an orphan who grew up not knowing any parental love and is trying to find true love and a family of her own.

Unfortunately, because the movie frequently interrupts itself with flashbacks, viewers of “Mothering Sunday” never get a full picture of Jane blossoming as an artist. She’s certainly someone who has a lot of things that happen to her, but there should have been more in the movie that showed Jane being more of an active doer in her life, instead of someone passively reacting to whatever life threw her way. Someone like Jane doesn’t become a famous and highly respected author just by “luck.”

“Mothering Sunday” has a lot of scenes of people smoking cigarettes as they look out windows or stare off into space, looking pensive or worried. It’s not a movie that presents the story in a particularly exciting or straightforward way. But for people who like emotional nuance and characters that are like puzzles to be solved, there’s plenty to appreciate about “Mothering Sunday.” Just make sure you watch the movie when there’s very little chance that you’ll fall asleep, because a lot of how this story is presented can be snoozeworthy.

Sony Pictures Classics released “Mothering Sunday” in select U.S. cinemas on March 25, 2022. The movie’s release expanded in the U.S. on April 8, 2022. “Mothering Sunday” was released in the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe in 2021.

Review: ‘Shirley’ (2020), starring Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young and Logan Lerman

June 5, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Shirley”

Directed by Josephine Decker

Culture Representation: Taking place in 1964 in Bennington, Vermont, the psychological drama “Shirley” features a predominantly white cast (with some African Americans) representing academia and the middle-class.

Culture Clash: Two married couples who are temporarily living together have tensions and conflicts over emotional well-being, infidelity and career achievements.

Culture Audience: “Shirley” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of actress Elisabeth Moss, real-life author Shirley Jackson or atmospheric dramas about people who play mind games.

Logan Lerman and Odessa Young in “Shirley” (Photo courtesy of Neon)

“Shirley” is not an easy film to watch because the movie’s namesake—renowned horror writer Shirley Jackson—is not someone who lives life easily. The movie is based on Susan Scarf Merrell’s 2014’s book “Shirley: A Novel,” a fictional story of an emotionally troubled Jackson and her professor husband, Stanley Hyman, inviting a young newlywed couple named Fred and Rose Nemser to temporarily live with them. Fred and Rose are offered free lodging in exchange for doing chores around the house. But the invitation into the Jackson/Hyman home is really so Shirley can have a distraction from her anxiety, depression and apparent delusions.

“Shirley” the movie—directed by Josephine Decker and written by Sarah Gubbins—starts off with the naïve newlyweds Fred (played by Logan Lerman) and Rose (played by Odessa Young) arriving by train to Bennington, Vermont. It’s 1964, and they’ve moved to Bennington because Fred has been hired as an assistant to Stanley (played by Michael Stuhlbarg), who’s an English professor at Bennington College. Chain-smoking, hard-drinking Shirley (played by Elisabeth Moss) has become a bed-ridden recluse after the very divisive reactions to her psychological horror novels and short stories, most notably “The Lottery” and “The Haunting of Hill House.”

Shirley’s reputation has preceded her, so Rose and Fred are intrigued to meet this famous but unsociable author. And viewers soon see why Shirley has a reputation for being difficult. At a dinner party at their home, Stanley plays the charming host, while Shirley is the temperamental, often abrasive artist. When someone asks Shirley, “What are you writing now?” She replies curtly, “A little novella called ‘None of Your Damn Business.'”

When newlyweds Rose and Fred arrive at the home, Stanley asks them to temporarily stay at the house to help with household duties, such as cleaning and shopping, in exchange for living rent-free at the house. Stanley explains that the family housekeeper has suddenly quit, so they’re desperate for the help, since Shirley is having one of her “bouts.” Rose is pregnant and reluctant to accept the offer, but Fred doesn’t want to alienate his new boss, so he says yes.

Meanwhile, the “bout” that Shirley is having is a bout of depression. Stanley has to plead with her to get out of bed, in order to meet the new couple who will be living with them. (In the “Shirley” novel, Shirley and Stanley have four children. In the movie, the couple has no children.)

Shirley isn’t thrilled about Rose and Fred being there. “A clean house is a sign of mental inferiority,” Shirley tells Stanley. “I don’t want strangers here.” Stanley convinces Shirley to have dinner with him and the new couple by telling her that “it’s cocktail hour” and that she doesn’t have to behave at the table.

And “misbehave” Shirley does. Knowing that Rose is pregnant, Shirley rudely asks Rose if Fred knew that Rose was “knocked up” before he married her. She makes some other comments that are meant to upset the couple, just to see what their reaction will be. Rose gets so upset that she and Fred leave the dinner table early. When Rose and Fred are alone together in their room, Rose says she wants to leave as soon as they can, while Fred tells her that they can’t risk alienating Stanley because Fred is hoping that Stanley will recommend him for a permanent position at Bennington College.

Meanwhile, Shirley continues to make Rose uncomfortable. When Rose goes into Shirley’s study, supposedly to bring some coffee, Rose ends up looking through some of the things in the study instead. Shirley catches her in the act and yells at Rose to never go in the study again. Rose can’t help but feel disappointed in the way that Shirley is treating her because when they first met, Rose complimented Shirley on “The Lottery” by telling her something she thought Shirley would like to hear: “The Lottery” made Rose feel “thrillingly horrible.”

Shirley has been working on a novel based on the mystery of a real-life missing Bennington College student named Paula Jean Welden (also played by Young), in a case that has remained unsolved. Rose also becomes obsessed with the case, so Rose and Shirley start to become closer over this common bond. The two women end up becoming co-dependent friends, which is a surprise to Fred.

It’s implied, not outrightly stated, that Shirley and Rose are also sexually attracted to each other, with Shirley making the first moves in being sexually flirtatious with Rose. For example, there’s a scene where the two couples have dinner together, and Shirley suggestively rubs her leg against Rose’s leg underneath the table without their husbands’ knowledge. And there’s another scene where Shirley and Rose almost come close to having an erotic embrace and kissing.

Meanwhile, Stanley flirts with Rose too, by rubbing up against her and even kissing her quickly on the mouth when they’re alone together. She reacts with surprise, but doesn’t say anything to protest. It’s not much of a shock to find out later in the story that Stanley cheats on Shirley with female students at Bennington College. (One of his eccentricities is playing the music of blues artists such as Leadbelly in his his all-female classes.) Shirley knows about Stanley’s philandering but does nothing about it except privately seethe.

Because his wife is a successful author who makes more money than he does, Stanley tries to validate his intelligence and ego in the marriage by telling Shirley that he needs to look over her drafts before she sends them to her publisher. And in order to thwart any power that the younger and better-looking Fred might have in the household, Stanley does a brutal critique of Fred’s dissertation in front of Fred, Shirley and Rose. Underneath the easygoing and friendly demeanor, Stanley is really a creepy control freak.

As Rose spends more time with Shirley, Rose starts to become more like Shirley: paranoid, disheveled and suspicious of what kind of infidelities her husband might be committing. It’s a change in Rose that Fred doesn’t like at all. And so, the roles between the couple are reversed: Rose once was eager to leave Shirley’s home because Shirley made Rose feel intimidated and unwanted, but now Rose is reluctant to leave because Shirley now makes her feel trusted and needed in the home.

“Shirley” is the type of movie that’s more about evoking moods rather than telling a straightforward narrative. For people who aren’t familiar with the “Shirley” novel on which this movie is based, don’t expect it to be the type of story where Rose and Shirley turn into ace detectives to solve the mystery of a missing person.

The movies touches a little on the rigid and expected roles of women in that era, when Shirley comments to Rose about Rose’s unborn child: “Let’s pray for a boy. The world is too cruel to girls.”

But the heart of the story is how Shirley and Rose end up finding out that they are kindred spirits because they both consider themselves to be “outsiders.” There’s a pivotal scene in the movie where Rose confesses to Shirley that Fred’s parents cut him off because he eloped with Rose. Shirley tells Rose, “People are afraid to brush up against me. They’re afraid my dark thoughts will infect them.”

All of the actors in the cast do a perfectly fine job with their roles, but Moss (who seems to like portraying characters with a lot of emotional turmoil) has to do the heaviest lifting, since Shirley is the catalyst for almost everything in the story. “Shirley” is not her most memorable film, but Moss’ performance is compelling enough that viewers will be curious to see what she does next in the story.

However, parts of the film do end up dragging and might bore people who are expecting more things to happen. “Shirley” portrays the uncomfortable reality that insecure people often unnecessarily create chaos in their lives because inner peace is just too banal for them. The movie is less about Shirley Jackson’s creative process and more about her tendency to emotionally destroy and self-destruct.

Neon released “Shirley” in select U.S. virtual cinemas, digital, VOD and Hulu on June 5, 2020.