Goodnight Mommy is almost unbearably creepy with some visceral elements that many audience members will find offensive and/or brutally awful/unforgettable. Pick your poison. It’s a masterful portrayal of identity, dizzying doubling, and terror. It’s also almost entirely silent. It opens this week.
Austrian co-directors/writers Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz have been in and around the film industry for decades in various capacities. This is their first film as directors. It’s incredibly confident. And actually fun, despite that grim brutal plot-line.
I sat down with the both of them recently (accompanied by a translator, should we need one, although we ended up communicating fine) at the publicists’ office and interviewed them about Goodnight Mommy. They were gregarious and a ton of fun.
If you like horror films (psychological as well as physical), you won’t want to miss Goodnight Mommy.
My interview with Fiala and Franz is now up at Rogerebert.com.
I can’t quite get past the fact they tied their actress to a chair for casting purposes. And waited to see what the kids would do. I’m surprised she survived!
Right???
LOVE IT.
That could have gone so wrong.
These two boys are incredible.
The fun/real-ness of total make-believe. Would love to see those audition tapes!
The interview has succeeded in scaring me witless, never mind the film. Jeepers!
It’s unbearable.
Not the same sort of unbearable as Babadook – which actually made me desperate – desperate!!! – for it to be over with – but just unbearably tense and terrifying.
What if your mother came home and she looked like a mummy and you had this deep-down conviction that whoever was under those bandages was an imposter? And what if you were 8 years old?
SCARY.
Ooh, that reminds me, I saw Phoenix – thought it was great!
Oh so glad!
Also how fascinating that they found twins could not play Rock Paper Scissors (SPN tie-in and – coincidentally – the name of an independent film that my cousin Kerry appeared in – will the connections never cease?) – or I Spy.
Yes – that was such an interesting point, hard to imagine really (and yes, SPN was my first thought – guilty.)
(but mainly, my mind is revolving around an image of a woman tied to a chair being poked with a pencil by beautiful creepy twins. A horror film in its own right.)
hahahahaha
Over drinks later that night with her other actress friends: “Uhm, had an audition today that was one for the books …”
(considering what the kids are asked to do in the film – gulp – I guess they felt they needed kids who were willing to “go there.” Who had the imagination to enter into that horrible reality. Pipsqueaks though they are.)
and – also important – they feel like natural little kids. Not deadpan little sociopath-kids, a la the twins in The Shining.
They problem-solve (with no dialogue), they look at each other and just know something’s wrong, and then they go outside and leap around on the trampoline or play in the long grass. So they’re both: suspicious kids who know they need to deal with that creature who has (they sense) replaced Mom – and normal little boys who have fun.
so it’s all fucked up and I thought it was great.
What an interesting duo. They seem to have an almost symbiotic relationship. So, there’s another mirror situations there, with the twins?
She must be a very brave actress, too.
I’m intrigued, I hope I’ll to see it (although, cockroaches?…).
Lyrie – yes, you’re right – very symbiotic, interesting observation! They finished each other’s sentences. I REALLY look forward to what else they do next.
And yeah: cockroaches. So gross.