Film Review | Ma Ma Boasts A Strong Central Performance to Back Up its Melodramatic Core
Is there a director who has had more influence on the biggest names of international cinema today than Douglas Sirk? The German director cultivated the genre of the melodrama, a type of film featuring heavy musical accompaniment which aims to provoke an emotional response from the viewer. These films of Sirk’s, although commercially successful, were panned by critics, often derogatorily referred to as “women’s films” because they centred on women and dealt with issues the gender faced at that time (boredom, alienation and oppression). Since the 60s and 70s, when influential film magazine Cahiers du Cinema wrote a number of adoring articles on the auteur, Sirk’s reputation has grown in stature. Quentin Tarantino and David Lynch paid homage to the director in Pulp Fiction and Blue Velvet, and both Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Todd Haynes directed unofficial remakes of Sirk’s All that Heaven Allows. Now, Spaniard Julio Medem declares his love for the auteur with his new effort Ma Ma.
The film centers upon two people, Magda (Penelope Cruz) and Arturo (Luis Tosar), both dealt a bad hand by fate, who are drawn together. Magda, recently laid-off from work and estranged from her husband, is diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of the film. Following the news, she goes to see her young son’s football game. While at the stadium, Arturo, a scout from Real Madrid, approaches her, but their conversation is interrupted by the abrupt news that the man’s wife and daughter have been seriously injured in a car crash.
I mention Sirk because Ma Ma bares many of the hallmarks associated with his drama: a highly contrived plot, stylistic excess, narrative implausibility and overt symbolism. While one could critique a film for indulging in these elements (Ma Ma has been gathering very mixed reviews), Medem’s film does exactly what Sirk’s movies did. It’s consistently engaging and entertaining, even as it becomes ludicrous and increasingly far-fetched in its second half. It is absolutely gorgeous to watch even when the symbolism is heavy-handed. Ma Ma also succeeds in terms of its genre objective. If a melodrama’s goal is to provoke an emotional response from the viewer, then Ma Ma succeeds, I assure you.
With this heavy influence of Sirk, many have noted that the film is a departure for its director, Julio Medem. The Spanish director’s films have often centered on women (Sex and Lucia, Room in Rome), yet they are renowned more for their experimentation in terms of narrative and explicit depictions of sex. Although these elements are muted here, traces of Medem’s previous work still remains. The film features this beautifully fluid camera work and a frankness in regards to sex which evokes memories of some of the artistically adventurous scenes within Sex and Lucia.
Another reason (aside from my fondness for melodramas) I’m willing to overlook the implausibility of Ma Ma’s second half is the acting. Penelope Cruz, an actress often underserved in Hollywood (for every film like The Counsellor, there is a Zoolander 2), is note-perfect in a performance which will remind viewers of her critically-acclaimed work with Pedro Almodovar (Volver, Broken Embraces). It’s a role which not only involves physical transformation, it’s multi-layered with Cruz managing to capture a sort of nervous energy, while also portraying every emotion on the spectrum from sadness to happiness. Her natural sensuality and angelic smile (Medem lights the actress as if she is a literal angel at key moments in the drama) manages to combat the film’s potentially depressing subject matter. The film is tough at times, as it should be, but Cruz and her co-star Luis Tosar (Sleep Tight) add a humanity and a warmth to the film that prevents it from becoming too downbeat to be enjoyable.
Verdict: Ma Ma, anchored by a terrific central performance and stylish direction, is a beautiful but flawed film teeming with melodramatic charm.
Ma Ma is in selected cinemas from Friday 24th June. Check out the trailer below.
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