Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2021: #63. Eva Husson’s Mothering Sunday

Published on January 4, 2021

Mothering Sunday

French director Eva Husson makes her English language debut with the UK production Mothering Sunday, a period piece set in post-WWI England which stars Olivia Colman, Colin Firth, Josh O’Connor, Sope Dirisu, Odessa Young and one of cinema’s acting titans, Glenda Jackson (the two-time Academy Award winner makes her first theatrical appearance since 1990’s King of the Wind from director Peter Duffell). DP Jamie Ramsey (who shot Shirley Adams and Beauty for Oliver Hermanus) lens the project, produced by Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley (Youth; Carol; The Crying Game). Based on the novel by Graham Swift, it was adapted by Alice Birch (Lady Macbeth, 2016). Husson was a breakout in 2015 with her debut Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story), which competed in TIFF’s Platform program. Her sophomore film Girls of the Sun competed at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Gist: Set in 1924 on the titular holiday (the UK equivalent of Mother’s Day), Young stars as Jane Fairchild, the maid for the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Niven (Firth, Colman). She has the day off as the Nivens attend to a lunch to celebrate the impending marriage of their neighbor’s only son, Paul (O’Connor). On this holiday, Jane and Paul are left alone for the last time to be lovers together, having carried on an affair for the last seven years.

Release Date/Prediction: Husson completed production in the UK in November 2020. We expect Husson to return to Cannes 2021 for her second time in the main competition. Sony Pictures Classics will likely push this for the fall.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.