Meredith (Emily Hampshire) returns home after giving birth and is overwhelmed with the upheaval in her life. Her husband Jared (François Arnaud) is largely absent, leaving Meredith to fend for herself and their new baby. Filled with dread about hurting her child, and struggling with post-partum depression, Meredith finds her life turned upside down when a tragedy takes place and she’s abandoned by everyone around her. Battling with nightmarish visions, Meredith has to fight for her sanity and to rebuild her life.
‘Mom’ from director Adam O’Brien isn’t a particularly new story and fans of the horror genre will be more than familiar with the tropes on display here. Meredith is clearly struggling from the moment she comes home and the fact that her husband Jared is an oblivious asshole doesn’t help. As Meredith sluggishly moves through her life, tired and stressed, Jared swans in and out, seemingly only to reprimand his wife for not having the house cleaned and his dinner on the table by the time he’s home. It seems odd that he doesn’t recognise that his wife is having a mental health crisis.
SPOILER ALERT The first half of the film drives towards the inevitable death of Meredith and Jared’s son, leaving the second half to focus on Meredith’s worsening mental state after she’s released from an institution. Home alone and abandoned by Jared, she begins to believe that their son is still alive, and her ability to differentiate between reality and fiction quickly disappears. Meredith is convinced that she’s better but the return of Jared soon proves that not to be the case.
‘Mom’ sits somewhere between a horror and a psychological thriller. The horror elements amount to nothing more than cheap jump scares, and the film is much stronger in its exploration of a woman battling with post-partum depression. I do wonder if the horror element should have been dropped altogether as it would have worked more effectively as a straight drama.
Emily Hampshire gives a performance that’s a million miles away from her ‘Schitt’s Creek’ role. Here she perfectly encapsulates a new mother that isn’t equipped, physically or mentally, to bring up a child. Hampshire embodies the weariness of Meredith convincingly, and she finds nuance in places that allows her to really show what she can do as an actor. Sadly François Arnaud, who is always a reliable actor, doesn’t get a whole lot to do and he’s better than the two-dimensional character he’s playing here. I found it difficult to believe that Jared could be such an awful person.
‘Mom’ is gruelling at times and the subject matter will not be to everyone’s taste. The film tackles some difficult issues, and in some ways the horror aspect of the film detracts from the seriousness of those. Emily Hampshire carries the film squarely on her shoulders, and for that reason alone it’s worth watching. What ‘Mom’ is missing though is some original ideas, which is a real shame because it has all the ingredients to be a much stronger film than it is.
Cast: Emily Hampshire, François Arnaud, Christian Convery Director: Adam O’Brien Writers: Philip Kalin-Hajdu, Albert I Melamed, Adam O-Brien Certificate: 15 Duration: 95 mins Released by: Blue Finch Film Releasing Release date: 17th February 2025 Buy ‘Mom’ now
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