Throughout her career as a film and theater actress, Mirjana Karanović has never shied away from a challenge. In the melodrama Mother Mara, her second film as director, co-writer and lead actress, she sets herself numerous challenges, including showing herself naked both physically and emotionally. Her Mara is a tough, successful businesswoman with platinum-blonde curls à la Marilyn Monroe, whose carefully constructed identity falls apart after the death of her 21-year-old son.
Even Mara’s grieving process defies tradition. She refuses to stay away from work or cry on anyone else’s shoulder. Instead, she rekindles her life force through an affair with a much younger man. Some viewers who would find it perfectly acceptable if the genders of the two main characters were reversed may find the dynamic between the older woman and the younger man implausible, but the performances of the two leads and a late plot twist do a good job of conveying that dynamic. After a gala world premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival, the film is scheduled to screen at other regional festivals.
The film begins with the funeral of Mara’s son Nemanja (Pavle Cemerikić), who once shared her large, modern house with its floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking a swimming pool and tasteful, expensive furniture in neutral tones. Mara raised Nemanja mostly alone, as her husband left her early to start a new family. Despite his heart condition, Nemanja is about to start a new life and attend the London School of Economics.
Mara’s dry performance at the wake sparks concern and gossip, but she coolly dismisses her sister’s (Jasna Zalica) attentions and rushes back to the office, a place she still feels under her control. When 28-year-old Milan (Vučić Perović), a handsome personal trainer, comes to her office with a real estate question and tells her that he knew Nemanja, she is intrigued.
With the help of Milan and her son’s now unlocked cell phone, she learns that Nemanja had various secrets and did not take proper care of his health. In the meantime, she is plagued by nightmares and is filled with despair. She feels more and more attracted to the vibrant Milan.
While Karanović’s first film, A Good Wife (2016), revolved around the recent past and the rebellion of a wife, the heroine of Mother Mara has long rejected traditional gender roles. By starting the affair with the younger man, she challenges stereotypes and clichés.
Dragana Baćović’s production design and Laura Locher’s costumes play a large role in characterizing both Mara and Milan. She wears her tight, low-cut dresses, high heels and bright lipstick like armor. At home, she can let her defenses down and wear softer clothing. Her running clothes in the film’s final shot show that she has left her grief behind and opened up to life’s possibilities again. Milan, on the other hand, wears shirts that are open to his bare chest, showing off his slim frame, although he is more often shown completely shirtless.
The film’s co-producers include two directors who won awards with Karanović as the star in their debut film: Bosnian Jasmila Zbanić with “Grbavica” and Croatian-Swiss Andrea Staka with “Fräulein”.
