Synopsis

On a warm spring day in 1924, house maid and foundling Jane Fairchild (Odessa Young) finds herself alone on Mother’s Day. Her employers, Mr. and Mrs. Niven (Colin Firth and Olivia Colman), are out and she has the rare chance to spend quality time with her secret lover. Paul (Josh O’Connor) is the boy from the manor house nearby, Jane’s long-term love despite the fact that he’s engaged to be married to another woman, a childhood friend and daughter of his parents’ friends. But events that neither can foresee will change the course of Jane’s life forever.

Critics Views

It’s a richly detailed mosaic of a movie which pays as much attention to emotional authenticity – a dull ache of grief which is the aftermath of the First World War and a smouldering yearning between the two lovers – as it does to the story itself.
Screen Daily

A thoughtful if occasionally melodramatic reflection on the nature of grief.
The Playlist

Eva Husson leads us through tiny moments building up an origin story of sorts for who Jane will become. These experiences and these observations become the basis of a book about life’s beauty and tragedy binding us in ways that transcend economic and social standing. The Film Stage

Telling a story that advocates living boldly over not living at all, Husson has followed suit, opening up exciting new possibilities for her career in the process.
Variety

Mothering Sunday pushes toward cut-and-dried conclusions, sewing up certain storylines with a finality that doesn’t befit the early sense that nothing is really ever over for Jane or the wounded world she inhabits.
Indiewire

Film Rating

IMDb
 Critics: 74%  Audience 64%

Rotten Tomatoes
Critics positive review 77%   Audience Liked It NA%

 Stockbridge Audience Score: 62%

Audience Comments

Quite a muddling story line
A little longer than necessary
Beautifully made film, superb actors, atmospheric and subtle but the plot is rather thin and the pace a bit slow at first. Some other characters could have been developed more.
Rather too slow – though beautiful photography.
Josh O’Connor didn’t seem quite right for the role (much better as Prince Charles – the ears!) The cinematography felt a bit overdone at times. I thought Jane Fairchild spent too long wandering naked round the house – it was March. Pretty chilly! Despite the criticism, we enjoyed it very much.
Rather slow
Music very loud and drowned the speakers. Also very difficult to hear what the young male character was saying
Wonderful atmosphere but very slow.
Beautifully directed and the move between time zones was, unusually, easy to understand
Film seemed to get a bit lost in the middle.
Super cast but very slow moving and lacking in dialogue. Lovely settings.
Set in March but clearly filmed in late summer/early autumn.
Started ok, lost it’s way in the middle, should have concentrated more on the lead character becoming an author. Last third was ok.
Felt a little too long and laboured (especially the scene of naked wandering around the house). Music sometimes intrusive and dialogue not always clear. Fine performances but somehow didn’t take off emotionally — kept the audience at a distance. Some points of comparison with Atonement, but that was a far better film (and book)
As there was so little effort to bring most of the characters to life, it was hard to empathise with them, or even notice their names
Disappointingly slow despite quite a good but very sad story. Olivia Coleman barely had a role to play.
Unnecessary nudity
Sound was not well balanced with music often too loud during some of the softly spoken sections