Mother Love

as that of a woman, scorned. Diana Rigg is superb in the role of Helena Vesy, a woman with a mysterious and nefarious past, who becomes infuriated with her ex-husband (well portrayed by David McCallum,) and his new family, including a young new wife.

Some of the scenes are memorable, as when she is strolling in the park, debating her lot in life, and walks under the shade of a laburnum tree. Laburnum, such a lovely tree, she ponders, as her mind wanders to its poisonous qualities.

Another scene with the young children, and an arsenic laced gift of marzipan at Christmas time is also quite chilling.

Rigg looks wonderful and believable in this role, would be nice if she were able to do a sequel. Highly recommended, excellent suspense. 9/10.

Diana Rigg will scare you under the carpet in this story of "treachery, disloyalty" and family ties. A simple lie, Helena's son keeping in touch with his father but not telling his mother, spins wildly out of control, while Helena gradually suspects that her family are keeping information from her. The cleverly-constructed back story, showing that Helena was capable of terrible things as a child, cranks up the tension and gives a sense of terrible foreboding. Helena's paranoia and loneliness take over, creating a horrible revenge.

Almost camp in some scenes, (calling everyone "darling", giving her family nicknames and shopping at Fortnums), Diana Rigg gives an intense performance full of pain at the upsets of her past life and full of hatred at her ex-husband. She definitely deserved her Bafta award.

use this link http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MV8H3Y/102-4681375-7474562 or the link to the right of the name of this movie at the top of the page and ask to be alerted when the movie comes to DVD. According to the people at Amazon.com, these votes will alert the studio that people want this movie released to video. It may really help, because it is only recently that Amazon put up a page for this wonderful movie.

I won't bother to add more comments, because they all agree and they are all right--it's one of Ms. Rigg's finest, and overwhelmingly deserves a DVD release.

Now that DVD recordings of films are commonplace, the producers of "Mother Love" owe it to Dame Diana's global fans to issue this fantastic horror/suspense film as a two-DVD set. Rarely have we seen such a tour d'force by any actress, even though Dame Diana has gratified us with many other outstanding performances. This rich characterization bears repeated viewing because so many of her inspired expressions and gestures can be overlooked when we focus on the twists and turns of the complex story line.

Fortunately for us, we taped the four "Mother Love" episodes on VHS when PBS-TV broadcast them in 1990. The film was not bleeped for language, and we did not see any indications of content censorship. My wife and I watch the tapes about once a year, and we see something different each time. But we would love to have the film on DVD because we're sure they would be sharper than the TV reception was, and our 16-year-old videotape copies are starting to show their age.

One note: the PBS broadcasts included interviews with the screenwriter and actors, as well as introductions by Dame Diana herself. Those would make dandy extras in a DVD set, because Dame Diana explains how she built her character into the believable psychopath named Helena Vesey.

Diana Rigg, playing Helena, has the performance of her life here as the tightly wound mother of the title who gradually comes to the realization that her ex-husband, whom she despises, has been secretly seeing her son for years behind her back.

Through a series of flashbacks we see Helena, as a child, committing a horrendous crime when she perceives disloyalty from her best friend. Disloyalty to Helena is one of the worse things one can do.

When she accidentally discovers that her cousin George has been disloyal, she punishes him also so that he winds up in jail for a crime he did not commit.

To the world Helena is perfectly groomed and poised but underneath she is a seething mass of resentment, barely contained until one final incident sends her over the top into a raging frenzy - "I gave you life and I can take it away". Chilling.

Everything about this series is perfect, the rest of the cast (David McCallum,James Wilby, James Grout, Isla Blair) are superb also. Wonderful script. Not a false note. The tension just builds and builds until at the end you feel you have run a marathon.

10 out of 10.