Maman mode d'emploi

This film is about a mother's hectic day, trying to fit everything she has to do in just 24 hours.

"Motherhood" details what a mother of two has to do in a day, from housework, organising her daughter's birthday party, shopping and writing. The events seem ordinary, but it successfully highlights the stress of being a mother and a housewife. It's a job that has no off office hours, no breaks and no days off. Their demands and difficulties of their roles are often underestimated and unappreciated. It reminds us that people need encouragement and acknowledgment to survive the mundane routine. It reminds us not to take love for granted.

Motherhood has a great premise and a great lead actress, but its problem stems from the fact that it picks the wrong setting and character for a movie like this. I have been waiting for a film about a mother, of maybe two, living in a bad neighborhood on Welfare with no husband struggling to make end's meet. I don't wish that on anybody, but I feel if someone with great talent, maybe John Singleton, worked on the project it'd be a worth seeing film with a great message and great performances.

I don't see why we should have sympathy for Uma Thurman when her character is clearly just having a bad day, or a bad week. She lives in a sizable apartment in West Village, New York, has another for that matter, a good, consistent blog, and a nice family. She's doing way better than I am, yet she wants sympathy because she's been running around for one day trying to organize a birthday party for her kid.

Yes, Uma Thurman plays Eliza, a mother who is trying to give her daughter the best sixth birthday party ever. Her absent minded husband Avery (Edwards) is a classic book collector who means well, but sort of clueless. So she is left to try and construct this party by herself with numerous things going wrong.

I'm in no way saying motherhood is an easy thing. It's probably grueling some days, but enlightening on others. Eliza is simply having a bad day. When mother's have young kids, they want to give them the world on their birthdays. They want them to be happy. Planning a party for a six year old is harder than planning one for a thirteen year old. When you're six, you get what's best. When you're thirteen, you want this, that, this, that, and don't forget that.

I have minor sympathy for this slump Eliza is in, but she lives in West Village of all places. For those unfamiliar, it's a very nice and expensive Village in New York. Obviously, you're not living in a slum and are doing pretty well for yourself. Again, not to sound like I'm jealous, but if you have enough money to afford West Village, you obviously have enough money to work something out for your daughter's party.

Despite comments online, I went into Motherhood with my head held high. I thought it might surpass some of the extreme hate it's getting on some sites. Then when I saw character development is weak, the realism among Eliza's friends is slim, and Uma Thurman's appearance in almost every shot of this movie when she isn't playing that great of a character, I lost interest fast.

Starring: Uma Thurman and Anthony Edwards. Directed by: Katherine Dieckmann.

The way it started I thought it was an amusing parody on the modern PC culture. It was a bit a awkward initially but I was focusing on the parody side. Later into the movie it wavered more on being pointless. It might have been meant to be a character study showing how motherhood and womanhood has changed and evolved for the last few generations. The most meaningful scene I felt was delivered by an older actress who in her statement also described what the intent of the movie might have been all about.

The movie is apparently based off a book written by the director and I have not read it. I cannot say I have been inspired to read it either.

Eliza Welsh is what one of the characters in "Motherhood" refers to derisively as an "urban mom." That is to say a young woman who lives in an upscale part of town (in this case, Greenwich Village), has a hoard of New Age-y mom friends who obsess over the ins-and-outs of successful childrearing, and herself hosts a blog dedicated to - what else? - how to survive the rigors of young motherhood without sacrificing one's identity as a woman, as a wife and as an individual. It's a battle that Eliza seems to be losing at the moment, but at least she's giving it the old college try.

Written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann, this seriocomic tale takes place on the day before Eliza's oldest child is to turn six. Filled with mixed emotions at the event and saddled with a husband (Anthony Edwards) who seems more focused on his own needs than those of his wife, Eliza struggles with arranging a birthday party, dodging parking tickets, coping with a studio-shoot on her street, looking out for her elderly neighbor, and raising a toddler - all while trying to carve out a little time for herself to write and to do all the things adults (those without children, at least) normally do in the course of their days.

Dieckmann's screenplay is filled with both poignancy and humor as it deftly explores the life of this harried mother. Uma Thurman, in a tour-de-force performance, captures both the manic energy and utter exhaustion of the nonstop merry-go-round that her character finds herself riding on; and she is fully supported by Edwards as her husband, Minnie Driver as her closest girlfriend, and Arjun Fupta ("Nurse Jackie") as a sexy delivery boy who, for a brief moment at least, allows Eliza to let her hair down a bit and to see the heart of the vibrant, sexy, carefree woman that still beats beneath all the motherly obsessions and concerns.

Although it's ultimately a bit too slight in the drama department for it to rise much above the level of a bemusing curiosity, "Motherhood" still has some valid insights to make about its subject.

Katherine Dieckmann's 'Motherhood' looks at the day in the life of city-dwelling mother Eliza Welch. Mothers could easily relate to Eliza's day-to-day struggles in being there for her family, in trying to find passion in life and in attempting to just make it through the day (although the film really does exaggerate these situations). Perhaps non-mothers, especially husbands and children who take their hardworking mothers for granted, could appreciate more of the effort and sacrifices mothers make. Many tend to see Thurman's Eliza as whiny and bitter but which mother hasn't had one of those days? Much of her frustration is also to do with the fact that she has just realized how fast her daughter is growing up and is trying to hold on to her childhood.

I did find the characterization of the Eliza's husband halfbaked. At first he appears to be this slacker jerk who doesn't do anything while the poor wife is working hard to make ends meet, then in the second half, the writer tries to make him this kind loving husband who cares about his wife and attempts to redeem him by the end twist (with the envelope). So what would have happened had he not received it? Would he have remained the frustrated jerk? It just felt forced as if the writer wanted to quickly round things up.

Uma Thurman does a decent job. She is supported well by the rest of the cast, especially Minnie Driver.

'Motherhood' does tend to be far-fetched at times. An example is the scene where Eliza tries to drive away. However, overall, it's not all that bad of a movie.