‘Mama’ review: A Polish domestic worker has a difficult return home from Israel

Dir/scr: Or Sinai. Israel/Poland/Italy. 2025. 91mins

The emotional complexities of life as a live-in home employee are dropped at the fore in Or Sinai’s character-driven debut characteristic. Quite than tackle the topic from an overtly socio-political perspective, Sinai invitations us to stroll, dance and even stagger a number of miles within the footwear of Mila (Evgenia Dodina), a middle-aged girl from Poland who’s a long-standing helpmate to the well-heeled Yaffa (Cheli Goldenberg) and Gideon (Meir Swisa) on Israel’s coastal plain.

Sinai’s scripting makes the characters’ relationships really feel impressively lived in

Regardless of the generic title, Mama has a particular persona, focusing much less on the day-to-day facets of Mila’s job and the attitudes of these round her in favour of exploring the long-term affect on her life and relationships again house. The one Israeli movie within the Cannes Official Choice this 12 months, exhibiting as a part of the Particular Screenings strand, the movie’s themes are common to all migrand employees, and Dodina’s sturdy central efficiency may assist it entice the eye of arthouse distributors.

Once we meet Mila in a second of pleasure, as she dances after which has intercourse with the a lot youthful Duby (Martin Ogbu), it’s not instantly apparent that she doesn’t personal the higher middle-class house they’re in. At the very least, not till they realise the time and scramble to tidy up earlier than Yaffa and Gideon return. Mila is effectively handled and appreciated by the household however her ‘place’, which is implied moderately than acknowledged, is in her quarters downstairs. After Mila injures her wrist, Yaffa decides she ought to go house to Poland to recuperate. The journey is acquainted, however quickly takes her into sudden emotional terrain as she discovers that whereas she has been constructing for the long run, different issues have begun to collapse.

Sinai’s script economically articulates Mila’s relationship with Yaffa. When her boss, who has given her garments to go house in, says, “my costume seems to be good on you,” the proprietary nature of their relationship sings out. Matan Radin’s handheld digicam additionally collaborates with Mila from the beginning, transferring loosely as she dances with Duby, and serving to immerse us in her emotional expertise by staying in tune with the character’s shifting temper all through. Typically, as with the dance, it mirrors her actions, whereas at others it adopts her perspective.

In rural Poland, life may be very totally different, though Mila’s husband Antoni (Arkadiusz Jakubik) and younger grownup daughter Kasia (Katarzyna Lubik) appear overjoyed to have her again. Their aged home, with its crumbling partitions, is in stark distinction to her employers’ house in Israel, whereas a dream home Mila is having constructed close by continues to be a half-constructed shell. The invention of unwelcome gadgets in a bedside desk is simply the beginning of the secrets and techniques Mila uncovers, as Kasia reveals the concepts she has with boyfriend Jurek (Kacper Zalewski) are additionally not a part of her mom’s grasp plan.

Sinai emphasises the duality of the state of affairs, as Mila’s expectations of how life could be because of her work overseas come up in opposition to a really totally different actuality again house. The contrasting faces of Mila’s expertise are additionally emphasised by way of refined costume and make-up shifts – Mila actually sheds her employer’s costume earlier than placing on the ‘costume’ of her house life. The excellence is little question helped by the truth that two craft groups have been at work within the totally different international locations.

Dodina reteams with Sinai after showing in her 2016 Cannes Cinefondation-winning brief Anna. Maybe greatest recognized to worldwide audiences as Villanelle’s mom in Killing Eve, the Belarus-born Israeli star fastidiously calibrates her efficiency. It’s not merely that she conveys Mila’s pleasure and disappointment, however how emotionally torn her character feels.

If a number of the plot beats are on the predictable aspect, as Mila discovers not every thing could be solved with cash, Sinai’s scripting makes the characters’ relationships really feel impressively lived-in. There’s an ‘outdated love’ high quality to Mila’s dialogue with Antoni, as they use established shorthand, in order that their arguments really feel smouldering and harmful moderately than merely combusting into rage. Damage could also be flowing between them, however so is knowing. Sinai stays non-judgemental, exhibiting how unhealthy selections don’t essentially stem from unhealthy intent. After a lifetime of planning for the long run, the query turns into whether or not Mila can lastly house in on her personal needs within the current.