Mother's Day is traditionally a time to pamper the family matron, encouraging her to sleep in while her offspring craft the perfect Sunday brunch, or if you're like me, run to the corner store to buy the last saggy bunch of flowers.
At the heart of the holiday is reminding our dear mothers just how much we care for them and value their strength and patience in raising us to be productive and hardworking, if sometimes unappreciative, members of society.
But motherhood isn't all roses and breakfasts in bed. If Hollywood has told us anything, it's that for every Mrs. Gump dishing out chocolates there's a Mrs. Bates making her son into a psychopathic motel killer.
With this in mind, here is a list of some of the best movies that focus on the mind of a mother, good or bad, and the ever-complicated relationship she shares with her children.
Pride and Prejudice (1995, 2005, various)
While I highly recommend the 1995 BBC series featuring the dreamy Colin Firth, there are other incarnations that also do the job, including a 2005 version with Keira Knightley. The story features social-climbing mother Mrs. Bennet, happy to pimp out her five pretty daughters for a handsome yearly income and a lovely life in the English countryside. The family matriarch desperately tries to keep her daughters in check as they go gaga over two wealthy young men, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, who ride into town, stealing their hearts.
Terms of Endearment (1983)
This classic romantic drama traces more than 30 years in the lives of Aurora (Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter Emma (Debra Winger) as they find different reasons to find joy in their life – and keep living. Some of those reasons for life include affairs with several handsome gentlemen, including John Lithgow and a ne'er-do-well retired astronaut played by Jack Nicholson. Things get really teary when Emma finds out she is terminally ill.
Mask (1985)
Cher stars as biker chick mom Rusty Dennis, a hard-as-nails fighter who is the mother to Rocky (Eric Stoltz), an emotional boy with a hideous and utterly massive facial skull deformity. While others treat Rocky with pity and awkwardness, his freewheeling mama is destined to give her son the most normal life possible, despite her own wild ways as a leather-clad biker gang member. As predicted, Rocky goes on to thrive in school, charming classmates. Then the tables turn, and Rocky helps his mother battle her longstanding drug habits.
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Dolly Parton, Julia Roberts, Sally Field and Shirley MacLaine, among others, share the secrets of strength and motherhood from the depths of a Louisiana beauty parlour. As the title reveals, these southern belles can be "as delicate as magnolias, but as tough as steel."
My father ranks this as his all-time favourite movie, tied only with Sandra Bullock's "masterpiece," Miss Congeniality.
It's Complicated (2009)
Meryl Streep shines as a divorced mother who accidentally falls in love with her married ex-husband (a devilishly funny Alec Baldwin) while attending her son's college graduation. While nothing makes me more uncomfortable than watching a movie sex scene in the company of my mother, there is something touching about seeing Alec Baldwin being caught naked while Streep is having a web chat with her new boyfriend, played by Steve Martin. Perhaps the most comedic aspect of this movie is watching the couple's 20-something aged children squirm over their mother's newfound sexuality.
Mermaids (1990)
Another Cher classic, Mermaids is the tale of an unconventional single mother who relocates to a small Massachusetts town with her two precocious daughters (Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci) after having a fling with her married boss. A number of events challenge their familial bond, most notably when the youngest child almost drowns while Ryder gets busy with a mild-mannered church employee in the bell tower.
Throw Momma from the Train (1987)
A bitter ex-husband, Larry (Billy Crystal), and a put-upon Momma's boy, Owen (Danny DeVito), want their respective spouse and mother dead and come together to pull it off. Through two unsuccessful murder attempts on Mrs. Life (played by a delightful troll-like Anne Ramsey), the unlikely trio end up on a hellish train to Mexico, where Larry gets to his wits end and tries to throw the old woman to her death. All is not lost. In the end, both angry men win literary success chronicling their experiences with the vexing old mum.
Mommy Dearest (1981)
If there were an Academy Award for worst mother, screen queen Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) might just win it. Crawford is the ultimate obsessive-compulsive mother, who adopts a daughter after miscarrying seven times. After her daughter tells her "I am not your fan" in front of a magazine reporter, Joan, ever the diva, reacts by strangling Christina, later sending her to boarding school. Notable scenes in this movie include mother-daughter hair cutting and angry boiling water hair-dousing.
Mama Mia (2008)
Set to the background of Abba hits, young Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) posts three of her wedding invitations to three different men (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) in an attempt to find out which one is her father. The invitations throw longtime single mom Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep) into a singing tizzy as she explores the relationship she has with her daughter and the handsome men she's been spending so many years trying to forget. My own dear mom and sister declared this movie positively cringe-worthy for the singing attempts of Colin Firth, whom they only choose to fondly remember in his role of Mr. Darcy (see above).
Heartbreakers (2001)
While not a critical or financial success, this mother daughter caper comedy is pleasantly entertaining. Max and Page (Sigorney Weaver and Jennifer Love-Hewitt) play a mother and daughter con team that seduce and scam wealthy men. While the film centres around using sex appeal to bilk old men out of millions of dollars, at its true core this is a classic tale of two generations of women struggling to understand each other, albeit while wearing teensy-tiny skirts.
