167. Your Mum and Dad - A Devastating Truth; movie review

 

YOUR MUM AND DAD - A DEVASTATING TRUTH

Cert 15

75 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language

No-one should ever underestimate the impact that parental behaviour has on their children.

I saw this consistently as a journalist when I heard court antecedents proving how many chequered backgrounds were followed by lives of crime.

As a board member of a YMCA branch I also saw evidence of the downward spiral of children who had grown up without proper guidance.

And our teacher son regularly refers to parental attitudes being played out in the classroom and beyond.

The resonance of parents on their sons and daughters is the subject of Klaartje Quirijns' documentary in which she begins with the work of a therapist friend and then turns the camera on herself.

Thus, we end up with the story of her family as well as that of Michael Moskowitz, a patient of Kirkland Vaughans.

Moskowitz' tells his therapist how his mother was ghastly towards him and that, as a consequence, he did not love her.

But only as the movie near its end do we understand how much her own past had influenced her actions.

Quirijns was allowed into the therapy sessions over 17 years and her clips are supplemented by home movies of the Moskowitzs.

She also gleans some interesting interpretations from Vaughans.

Then Quirijns delves into her own family to discover some uncomfortable truths about how she is perceived as a mother.

Thus, the most significant element of the film becomes her voyage into her past and how her childhood has affected her in later life.

All power to her for opening doors which led to long suppressed revelations.

The only problem is that Your Mum and Dad - The Devastating Truth is a tad too personal and moves around too quickly for the viewer to be able to put themselves in the position of either subject.

Nevertheless, it does provoke significant thought.

Reasons to watch: A very personal insight into one of the most important relationships

Reasons to avoid: Moves around too quickly

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6.5/10

Did you know? The UK divorce rate is estimated at 42%. Over 100,000 British couples got a divorce in 2019. The average UK divorce age is 46.4 for men and 43.9 for women.

The final word. Klaartje Quirijns said: “I made this film out of a personal need and although the stories are very specific, they seem to touch people universally. We forget as humans that we have so much in common.” Spotlight On Kulture

Share this post