[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

La Mère

Original title: Mat
  • 1926
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 29m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
3.2K
YOUR RATING
Nikolay Batalov and Grigory Borisov in La Mère (1926)
Drama

A story about a family torn apart by a worker's strike. At first, the mother wants to protect her family from the troublemakers, but eventually she realizes that her son is right and the wor... Read allA story about a family torn apart by a worker's strike. At first, the mother wants to protect her family from the troublemakers, but eventually she realizes that her son is right and the workers should strike.A story about a family torn apart by a worker's strike. At first, the mother wants to protect her family from the troublemakers, but eventually she realizes that her son is right and the workers should strike.

  • Director
    • Vsevolod Pudovkin
  • Writers
    • Maxim Gorky
    • Nathan Zarkhi
  • Stars
    • Vera Baranovskaya
    • Nikolay Batalov
    • Aleksandr Chistyakov
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.4/10
    3.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Vsevolod Pudovkin
    • Writers
      • Maxim Gorky
      • Nathan Zarkhi
    • Stars
      • Vera Baranovskaya
      • Nikolay Batalov
      • Aleksandr Chistyakov
    • 18User reviews
    • 17Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos13

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 7
    View Poster

    Top cast15

    Edit
    Vera Baranovskaya
    Vera Baranovskaya
    • Niovna-Vlasova, the Mother
    Nikolay Batalov
    Nikolay Batalov
    • Pavel Vlasov - the Son
    Aleksandr Chistyakov
    Aleksandr Chistyakov
    • Vlasov - the Father
    Anna Selivanova
    • Anna - a Revolutionary Girl
    • (as Anna Zemtsova)
    Ivan Koval-Samborsky
    Ivan Koval-Samborsky
    • Vessovchtchnikov - Pavel's Friend
    N. Vidonov
    • Misha - a Worker
    Aleksandr Savitsky
    • Isaik Gorbov - the Foreman
    Vsevolod Pudovkin
    Vsevolod Pudovkin
    • Police Officer
    Ivan Bobrov
    Ivan Bobrov
    • Young Prisoner
    • (uncredited)
    Aleksandr Gromov
    • Revolutionary
    • (uncredited)
    Fyodor Ivanov
    Fyodor Ivanov
    • Prison Warden
    • (uncredited)
    Vyacheslav Novikov
    • Worker
    • (uncredited)
    Pavel Poltoratskiy
    • Judge
    • (uncredited)
    Nikolay Trofimov
    • Escort
    • (uncredited)
    Vladimir Uralskiy
    Vladimir Uralskiy
    • Student
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Vsevolod Pudovkin
    • Writers
      • Maxim Gorky
      • Nathan Zarkhi
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews18

    7.43.2K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    8jgcorrea

    A Soviet kinda classic

    Mother maybe works better on stage than on celluloid. It is one of the most well-known novels in literature. It did not limit itself to a localized depiction of the misery engulfing Russian urban proletariat, but rather composed a paean to the human yearning for emancipation, overcoming the barriers erected by fear and repression. Pudovkin directed in a clear, direct style, without concessions to unnecessary detail a nd trying to inspire in the spectator a boundless desire for freedom and a thirst for justice.
    8springfieldrental

    Soviet Montage Examines One individual Instead of the Collective

    Soviet filmmaker Vsevolod Pudovkin had produced a number of short films displaying his adapt handling from the teachings Moscow Film School instructor Lev Kuleshov on the messaging of montage editing. In 1926, Pudovkin embarked on reworking Maxim Gorky's 1906 novel, 'The Mother,' to illustrate the heroics of a mother whose son joins factory strikers in the face of brutal Tsarist troops. The October 1926 "Mother" proved to be one of cinema's most visible example of using editing techniques to fully explain the inner motivations of individual characters. Pudovkin's work departed from his film colleagues who implemented the montage to illustrate just the surface incidents leading up to the 1917 Russian Revolution.

    When "Mother" kicked into high gear with action, Pudovkin implemented super-quick edits to portray the shown events as chaotic. He didn't waste even a nano-second of empty framing to lengthen these scenes. "Whenever we noticed some dead place at the edge of a shot," Pudovkin related, "we would eliminate it, to have nothing useless or superfluous in the composition." Fellow Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein noticed Pudovkin's focus on the individual, how the characters changed within the fluid social revolution. "He puts real living men in the center of his work," described Eisenstein. "His films act directly through their emotional power."

    The Mother, Pelageya Vlasova (Vera Baranovskaya), is Pudovkin's focal point; she loses her abusive husband to a revolutionist who accidentally shoots him. Shortly afterwards, she turns in her son, who is storing arms for the rebels, thinking he'll rethink his position and eventually side with the Tsarist government. Her plan doesn't work-he receives a harsh life sentence of hard labor. He escapes from prison by crossing an ice-flow river, reminiscent of D. W. Griffith's 1920 "Way Down East's" exciting conclusion. While all this action unfolds on the screen, Pudovkin uses his lessons from Griffith to cross-cut his montage sequences with shots of a calming nature, ice flows, and the concluding calvary charge, among other scenes.

    Camara positioning was equally important to Pudovkin as his editing. To show the transformation of the Mother, he initially positions the camera high looking downwards to show an oppressed, humiliated wife in the face of her aggressive husband psychologically dragging her down. Towards the finale, the director does the opposite with the camera as she gains awareness to her self and Russia's political ramifications: he positions it low looking up towards the confident and inspired Mother who faces an onrushing horde of Tsarist calvary.

    During the filming, actor Nikolai Batalove, as The Mother's son, refused to walk on the ice flows in the dramatic escape sequence. Mikhail Dollar, Pudovkin's assistant director, took the clothes from the actor and proceeded to step confidently on the flows, capturing the heart-pounding athletic feat on film. Dollar was also instrumental in creating the factory crowd frantic scene where the mounted police were overrunning the strikers. At first the 700 extras looked lethargic as they ran down the street. Dollar and Pudovkin decided to turn around the two horses they were riding and gallop just out of frame against the throng of extras. The members of the crowd didn't hesitate to run for their lives, turning into a stampede of people, just as Pudovkin had scripted.

    "The Mother" is the first in what later critics labeled Pudovkin's revolutionary trilogy. In the next two years the director proceeded to produce two additional classics along the lines of this classic film debut.
    9Dr.Mike

    Great Russian Silent Film

    This is one of the classic Soviet silent films. The story is about a family torn apart by a worker's strike. At first, the mother wants to protect her family from the troublemakers, but eventually she realizes that her son is right and the workers should strike. The plot is similar to other Soviet films of the era but does focus more on the individual than some of Eisenstein's films. The mother and son do represent the collective but they are also strong characters on their own.

    The best part of the film is the editing. It is always sharp and quick. When there is action, the edits are fast and give the viewer a sense of chaos. The Soviets were masters of montage and this film is a prime example. The acting is also better than in most silent films. It is clear that the actors come from the serious stage and not Vaudeville. The cinematography is somewhat average, though, and the film feels a little flat at times. It is not perfect, but it is worth seeing for all and essential viewing for those interested in Russian film or montage.
    7JoeytheBrit

    Mother review

    Vsevolod Pudovkin makes a thunderous debut with this adaptation of the Gorky novel of the same name that takes place immediately before the revolution of 1905. Steeped in the traditions of Soviet montage, Pudovkin's film explores the consequences of a mother's desire to protect her revolutionary son with a style that is both strident and unrelenting, but which avoids Hollywood-style sentmentality while never losing sight of the tale's human perspective.
    7lee_eisenberg

    It's basically propaganda, but I'm sure that it's all true.

    Released right after "Battleship Potemkin", "Mother" shows a woman forced to choose between siding with her labor-organizing son or her corrupt husband. The movie makes double sure that we get to see the living conditions in Russia in 1905, but it also uses ice as a metaphor. There are a few scenes where we see ice breaking up on the ocean; it basically shows that the old order is slowly but surely coming apart. I have to admit that this is the only Vsevolod Pudovkin movie that I've ever seen, but it's certainly a good one, if only as a historical reference. A noticeable difference between Eisenstein and Pudovkin was that Eisenstein was into typage (meaning that he liked to choose any random person who looked right for the role), while Pudovkin was very fixated on whom he wanted.

    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      First feature film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin.
    • Alternate versions
      In 1968, the film was restored, and a musical score added by Tikhon Khrennikov, emphasizing the film's revolutionary message.
    • Connections
      Featured in Horizon: The Quest for Tannu Tuva (1988)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ12

    • How long is Mother?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 11, 1926 (Soviet Union)
    • Country of origin
      • Soviet Union
    • Language
      • None
    • Also known as
      • Mother
    • Filming locations
      • Moscow, Russia
    • Production company
      • Mezhrabpom-Rus
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 29m(89 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.