Mothering Sunday

This intriguing British period drama focuses on Jane Fairchild (Odessa Young), a maid, who falls for Paul (Josh O’Connor), the scion of an aristocratic family, before going on to be an acclaimed writer. Centring on the events of Mothers’ Day in 1924 and flipping back and forth in time—Glenda Jackson plays Jane in her old age—director Eva Husson’s sumptuous drama is a smart adaptation of Graham Swift’s novella. Jane is the maid of the wealthy Nivens (Colin Firth, Olivia Colman) family. The Nivens traditionally have lunch on Mothers’ Day with the Sheringhams, so Jane uses her day off to secretly meet Paul, the Sheringhams’ son. The day takes a dramatic turn, a turn Jane will use to become a celebrated writer…

‘Posters for this sensuously photographed and affectingly scored drama suggest a rather glum combination of “Gosford Park” and “Upstairs, Downstairs”. Yet the film itself is nothing of the sort, dealing instead with altogether more intriguing themes of love, lust, grief and doubt, lacing its central portrait of an artist in the making with an air of unresolved intrigue, lingering guilt and transformative creativity.’—Mark Kermode, The Observer