Thursday Movie Picks #13: All in the Family Edition: Mother-Daughter Relationships (Biologically Related)

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Every last Thursday of a month, Thursday Movie Picks series returns with All in the Family Edition. This week, the running theme is all about Mother-Daughter Relationships (Biologically Related), as an exact opposite of February’s topics. FYI, Wandering through the Shelves Blog still hosts the series and… you’re invited. Visit this page for the details.

As for this week, I’d like to highlight some troubled mother-daughter relationship in movies fueled by mothers’ obsessive ambition… and social pressure. Oh, fortunately all the mothers in the movies I picked are all single mother; it must have been difficult to be one, therefore, things might happen.

01. Carrie (1976)

Piper Laurie portrayed Mrs. White, Carrie’s enigmatic, fanatic mother; while Sissy Spacek portrayed Carrie, the bullied girl with supernatural ability. Things had never been easy for this mother-daughter; the neighbors alienated them, and Mrs. White even alienated themselves from society. Her strict faith was the trigger of Carrie’s disasters; the thing is, she only did that to protect Carrie from the evil power that once engulfed her. This mother-daughter relationship is a more bitter irony in Brian de Palma’s version of Carrie.

02. Black Swan (2008)

As a former dancer, Erica (Barbara Hershey) loved her daughter’s passion in ballet. Yet, things went sour when Nina (Natalie Portman), the daughter, got involved in Black Swan. The whole movie was actually a character study about Nina along with the juxtaposition of her role as the White Swan and Black Swan. The character study focused on how she got connected to people, and how her relationship with her mother juxtaposed the relationship between of The Swan Queen and the Queen from the performance was completely awesome.

03. Beyond the Lights (2014)

She couldn’t be a star like she had been in Beyond the Lights without her mother’s interference. Noni Jean (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) was a hot new celebrity who won Billboard Music Award even before she released an album; but it was all her mother’s—ambition, obsession, and stardom. Actually, the romance is the first course of this film, but without the mother-daughter seasoning, it was tasteless. Trust me, this is the mainstream contender of Begin Again.

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So, that’s a wrap: all my picks are there. Hit the comment, please.

30 responses

  1. Hah…I almost went for the toxic mother route as well, and for a second Carrie was on that list.

    I love Black Swan and I actually haven’t heard of Beyond the Lights, so I’m going to look out for that.

    1. Yeah that route is the best way to start the picking! You know, that kind of thing

  2. oooh, you did indeed go quite a toxic route. Haha. I like it. Second time I’ve seen Carrie, I didn’t even think of it. Some how it skipped my mind completely.

    Black Swan is an great choice, from what I remember Barbara Hershey’s performance makes me shudder.

    1. The easiest way, right? Carrie and Black Swan was very great, the other is a little cheesy but the mother-daughter thing is good

  3. Hollywood makes it all too easy to go the toxic route, doesn’t it? I was fairly impressed with Beyond the Lights as well – better than expected anyway. Cool picks.

    1. Thanks! The toxic route is always the easiest to refer to, right?

      1. Probably. I like how you called the relationships “troubled” and then the first one you refer to is Carrie! Awesome!

        1. That’s that! Carrie’s amazing!

  4. I’ve seen all of these…yay me!!! Just watched Beyond the Lights a few days ago and enjoyed it. Solid movie with some great acting. Absolutely love the other two. Great choices!

    1. Great you liked it! I just watched Beyond the Lights a few days ago as well that’s why I picked it here.

    2. Yay you! It does feel like it deserves a pat on the back, doesn’t it?

  5. Andrew Avatar

    I love that you went with a theme within a theme, and what a great sub-theme! Loved Beyond the Lights, even more so as I think about more and more, and Gugu and Minnie are both so incredible in it! Carrie is one of the greatest horror movies of all time with two of the greatest performances of all time within it. I didn’t care for Black Swan, and I possibly dislike it more and more the more I think about it…but I totally get why it’s here 😀

    1. I just thought it might be easier to pick some films if I narrowed down the theme and there it is. Glad that you liked two of them and understood why the other is there. Cheers!

  6. Beyond the Lights!! Oooh I wish I had picked that one, Paskalis. I’m gonna make that my bonus pick and link to you 🙂 Glad you picked that one and the other two are great picks as well.

    1. Thanks, Ruth! Glad that you liked those picks! This theme is super interesting!

      1. It’s a topic that’s bittersweet to me, as you’ll see when you read my post. Thanks again for reminding me to include Beyond the Lights!

  7. Brittani Avatar
    Brittani

    Great picks here! The only one I haven’t seen is Beyond The Lights, but I’m a huge fan of the other two.

    1. Glad you loved them! Beyond the Lights is great, anyway!

  8. I’ve never heard of Beyond the Lights but I’ll have to check it out. The other two are great picks.

    1. I had just checked it a few days ago. Thanks for stopping by.

  9. Irene McKenna Avatar
    Irene McKenna

    I couldn’t agree more about the 1st two choices — I haven’t seen Beyond the Lights yet.

    1. Check it, Ms. Irene!!!

  10. Awesome to see Carrie and Black Swan here, love these movies and the performances were superb

    1. True that! Glad you liked them.

  11. Great picks! Like Irene up there, I’ve yet to see Beyond the Lights but have heard nothing but good things.

    1. Thanks, Kevin! Beyond the Lights made highlights this Thursday.

  12. Great picks! Will try to watch Beyond the Lights soon, seems interesting and been hearing good things about it.

  13. Beyond the Lights seems interesting. I think I will look for the film.

    1. You go for it, girl!

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