Mother and Child

Directed by Rodrigo García

(R)

***

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This complex film about adoption turns out to be “a revelatory examination of what motherhood means,” said Kirk Honeycutt in The Hollywood Reporter. Writer/director Rodrigo García weaves together three women’s stories into a “happy/sad tale.” Annette Bening plays Karen, who gave up her daughter Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) 37 years before. Elizabeth, now a self-assured attorney, becomes pregnant through an affair with her boss. Meanwhile, Lucy (Kerry Washington) must navigate countless bureaucratic channels to adopt the baby she desperately wants. Gradually, the three come into contact, and have “a transformative impact on one another’s lives,” said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. The melodramatic premise might “baffle or alienate” those for whom adoption was a purely happy event, but García tempers the film’s most heart-rending moments. He also knows to stay out of his actresses’ way, said Kyle Smith in the New York Post. Bening’s powerful performance makes the “inner unease” of her character palpable, while Watts’ “willingness to be charmless is charming.” As they get to know each other, García’s camera patiently watches—“attentive, intimate as a diary.”