The Eyes of My Mother

The Eyes of My Mother is a 2016 American black-and-white horror film written, edited and directed by Nicolas Pesce in his directorial debut.

The film was produced by Borderline Presents and Tandem Pictures. It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival to a polarizing reception and was acquired by Magnet Releasing,^[3] set for release in the United States on December 2, 2016.

Plot

Francisca and her mother live on a farm where they raise cows and other animals. A trained surgeon, Francisca's mother teaches her how to remove eyeballs from farm animals, and is taught the legend of Francis of Assisi. Suddenly, Charlie, a door-to-door salesman, appears and asks to use her bathroom. Against her better judgment, Francisca's mother lets him into the house. After a struggle, Charlie kills Francisca's mother. Charlie is injured, presumably by Francisca's father, who arrives home while Charlie is mutilating the mother's body in the bathtub. Francisca's father seems undisturbed by these events and chains Charlie in the barn. Francisca and her father bury Francisca's mother in the backyard. Charlie explains the incomparable thrill of killing others. Off camera, Francisca removes Charlie's eyes and vocal cords and bags them and onscreen puts them in the refrigerator. Francisca explains to Charlie that he was not killed because he is her only friend and she will look after him.

Years later, the adult Francisca's father dies, and she preserves the body. She meets Kimiko, a Japanese student, at a bar. Kimiko and Francisca return to Francisca's home but Kimiko is perturbed at Francisca's description of the death of her mother and the statement that she murdered her father. Kimiko tries to leave, but off screen Francisca murders her, chops her up and bags the organs, putting them in her refrigerator.

Afterward, she bathes Charlie, who was still chained up in the shed, and brings him inside to sleep with her. Charlie attempts to escape in the middle of the night but Francisca easily catches up to him and repeatedly stabs him while admitting to him how intoxicating murdering is.

Francisca, distraught at finally being completely alone, wanders the woods, reaches a highway and catches a ride with Lucy back to the house. Lucy has a baby son named Antonio who Francisca kidnaps upon reaching the house. Francisca stabs Lucy before praising her dead mother for bringing the pair to her and keeping Lucy's son as her own child. Like Charlie, Lucy has her eyes and vocal cords cut out by Francisca; again, all the violence and actual surgery is done off-screen

Antonio grows into a school age child and is shocked at seeing Lucy when he enters the barn, which he is told never to go into. Antonio later unlocks the barn and Lucy escapes. A trucker finds Lucy and police are called to the barn. Francisca is shown digging up the grave of her mother in the woods, cradling the skeleton and telling her how much she misses her. Coming back from the grave site Francisca sees police vehicles coming to the house and rushes to wake Antonio, taking him into the bathroom holding a knife, she brandishes it in front of herself, screaming that they will never take her baby.

The camera cuts to an aerial view of the house as a gunshot is heard.

Cast

• Kika Magalhães as Francisca
• Olivia Bond as Young Francisca
• Diana Agostini as Mother
• Paul Nazak as Father
• Will Brill as Charlie
• Joey Curtis-Green as Antonio
• Clara Wong as Kimiko
• Flora Diaz as Lucy

Release

The Eyes of My Mother premiered in the NEXT section at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2016.^[4] It was acquired by Magnolia Pictures' foreign language film division Magnet Releasing.^[5] It will be released to select theaters and via iTunes, cable/satellite video on demand, and Amazon Video on December 2, 2016.

Reception

The Eyes of My Mother was positively received by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a score of 76%, based on 68 reviews, with an average of 6.7/10. The site's consensus states: "The Eyes of My Mother uses a shocking trauma to fuel a hauntingly hypnotic odyssey whose nightmarish chill lingers long after the closing credits."^[6] Metacritic reports a 64 out of 100 rating, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[7]

References

External links

• Official website
• The Eyes of My Mother on IMDb
• The Eyes of My Mother at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Eyes of My Mother at Metacritic