They say no love is stronger than a mother’s for her child. While this bond can create great things and nurture a child to be a better person, the opposite can also be true, and a mother’s love can be misguided, awkward, or downright malicious. Cinema has also been an ideal place to explore these awkward relationships, withmovies like 1981’sMommie Dearestbecoming synonyms with broken family relationships under a misguided matriarch. Yet, when it comes to mother-son relationships, things can get a bit messy (just ask the Greek gods), and these tales of exaggerated or frighteningly realistic family connections can make for some unsettling and uncomfortable films.
These films deal with some uncomfortable subject matter, but all approach it with a degree of artistic merit or notable shock value to make them powerful watches despite the content. We will count down to what we think is the best movie exploring the dysfunctional relationship between a mother and son committed to film in movies you can also choose to enjoy without delving deep into the psychology of what is happening.
15The Baby (1973)
A social worker gets one of the most bizarre cases of her career when she is introduced to the Wadsworth family. Housing a home where drugs and partying are commonplace, a matriarch and her daughters watch over their youngest brother, whom they only refer to as ‘Baby.’ Baby is an adult man still trapped inside the mind of a baby and treated as such, yet his cruel mother and siblings are also quick to dish out torture to the infantile man. The social worker takes it upon herself to save Baby, who she believes may have been conditioned to act that way.
The Body of a Man, the Brain of a Baby
There is a certain degree of campin this famous exploitation filmthat makes it hard to put any further down this list. Yet,its bizarre premise makes it undeniably one of the most memorable portrayals of a messed-up mother-son relationship. Ted Post’s bizarre feature is not for the faint, and while there is little that happens here that is graphic, it is incredibly uncomfortable to watch a man act like a baby while his ‘mother’ whips him. The ending is equally bizarre, making this more of a curioso than a classic.You can streamThe Baby (1973)on Fandor, Night Flight, or Plex.
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14Throw Momma From the Train (1987)
Throw Momma from the Train
For a more lighthearted look at a terrible mother/son relationship, you can’t do better than 1987’sThrow Momma From the Train. Larry Donner (Billy Crystal) can’t get over his ex-wife’s betrayal (she took credit for a manuscript he wrote) and is teaching a writing class when a student approaches him, Owen Lift (Danny DeVito), who lives with his wretched mother (Anne Ramsey). Inspired by the movieStrangers on a Train, the two decide to make a deal to ‘take care of’ the other’s problem.
A Devious Deal to Dethrone a Dotting Mom
Directed andproduced by Danny Devito,Throw Momma From the Trainearned Anne Ramsey an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The performance became influential, inspiring many a ‘mean old woman’ going forward, and her overbearing and cruel attitude toward her son was comedic gold. Overall, the movie is a delightful comedic romp and an excellent love letter to Alfred Hitchcock, taking inspiration from his film Strangers on a Train and giving it a dark, comedic twist.You can streamThrow Momma From the Trainon Pluto TV.
13The Grifters (1990)
The Grifters
Anjelica Huston and John Cusack play Lilly and Roy Dillon, mother and son con artists. Lilly is a bleached blond, hardened professional who works for a mob bookie named Bobo and hasn’t seen her son in years. When she drops in for a visit, she finds him internally bleeding after a scam gone wrong. She’s disappointed with his inferior scamming skills and with his girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening), whom Roy is unaware is also a con woman. Lilly wants Roy to get out of the game altogether, while Myra wants him to go in with her on a long con, and obviously, something has to give.
Mother Scams Best
Director Stephen Frears amps up the dark angle of this 1990 thriller with Lilly resorting to murder, trying to rob her son, and attempting to seduce him to get away with it all.Huston was initially reluctant to play the role of this vicious mother, and it’s easy to see why. Still, there is a wicked wit toThe Grifters, backed by a sleek noir aesthetic that makes it highly engaging despite its troubling premise around a distorted mother/son relationship.you’re able to streamThe Grifterson Paramount+.
12Ma Mére (2004)
Directed by Christophe Honoré and released in 2004, it’s based on a posthumously published erotic novel by Georges Bataille, a controversial figure who wrote in excess on sex and violence. The film is the story of Hélène, mother to 17-year-old Pierre (Louis Garrel, already known by this point for starring in Bertolucci’sThe Dreamers), and a recent widow. Hélène uses the death of her husband to introduce her son to a world of depravity.
We All Deal With Death a Little Differently
French art house darling Isabelle Huppert is known for pushing boundaries in her films, and her role as Hélène inMa Méreis no exception.From the outset, her character is sexually inappropriate towards her son, telling him in detail about past promiscuity before involving him in an orgy with her friends.This is just the beginning of Pierre’s obsessive downfall under the guidance of his mother. The movie washit with an NC-17 ratingin the US, although an R-rated version is available.
11Hush (1998)
Martha (Jessica Lange) dotes excessively on her son, Jackson (Jonathan Schaech), although his girlfriend Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) finds it more than a little stifling. Soon after they visit Martha’s home, Helen realizes she’s pregnant, and she and Jackson marry, with Jackson’s paternal grandmother insinuating that Martha is not to be trusted. Despite Helen’s wishes, the couple moves in with Martha. It soon becomes apparent that family secrets from the past regarding Jackson’s deceased father are not what they seem and that Martha’s goal is to keep Jackson and the baby for herself.
Dealing with the Mother-in-Law
Jessica Lange is the real star ofHush. Even though the film received a mixed reception, almost unanimously, the actor gave a career-defining performance as the plotting mother-in-law. The way the film explores the awkward family dynamic between the three leads to some uncomfortable moments, with the movie delivering a thrilling premise, albeit with a bit of cliché and predictability that keeps it from being a truestandout of the psychological thriller genre.you may rentHushon Apple TV or Amazon Video.
10The Babadook (2014)
The Babadook
Amelia and her son Samuel are struggling. Amelia, with the past and the death of her husband, leaves her to raise a child alone, and Samuel is acting out. Things are made worse when Samuel becomes convinced that a creature from a book, Mister Babadook, is trying to kill him and his mom, making him lash out violently. As Amelia starts to experience strange occurrences around the home, she becomes increasingly paranoid and lashes out, often at Samuel.
When a Mother Loses to the Monsters Under the Bed
There is a degree of empathy for Amelia as a mother, even as she turns delusional and struggles to remain civil with her son. Both seem to have gotten a bad shake in life and are struggling to find a sense of normalcy. Still, this does not make the relationship any less toxic, as Samuel’s outbursts are made worse byAmelia acting back in kind; seeing them interact can be very uncomfortable. Still, as a slow-burn horror film,The Babadookis pure perfection.You can streamThe Babadookon AMC+, Mubi, Plex, or The Criterion Channel.
9Ready or Not (2019)
Ready or Not
Former foster child Grace (Samara Weaving) seems to have lucked out with the well-heeled family of her husband-to-be Alex (Mark O’Brien), although she wonders why he’s been a little scant with the details of their estrangement. Upon meeting them on her wedding day, they appear to be a highly dysfunctional family, headed by matriarch Becky (an icy Andie MacDowell). Grace figures she can survive the family tradition that Alex’s father Tony brings up, involving a puzzle box and the drawing of a card.
A Family Bonds over Hunting the Deadliest Game
Unfortunately,Alex doesn’t explain to her until after she’s drawn the Hide and Seek card that the family tradition is now for his family to hunt her down and kill heror risk death themselves. What follows is a violent, nightmarish night during which there are moments when both Alex and his brother Daniel (Adam Brody) attempt to help Grace escape. Still, Becky has none of it, and she is determined to protect her sons from the family curse by killing her daughter-in-law in this comedy horror from 2019.You can streamReady or Noton Hulu.
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8A Christmas Tale (2008)
A Christmas Tale
When steely French matriarch Junon (Catherine Deneuve) learns she has leukemia, she asks her children and grandchildren at the family Christmas gathering to see if they are eligible to become bone marrow donors. This causes deep friction in the family, especially between Junon’s daughter Elizabeth (Hippolyte Girardot) and son Henri (Anne Consigny), who already have a tumultuous relationship. Their mother’s sickness also recalls the traumatic loss of their brother Joseph when they were children.
Catherine Deneuve stars in this 2008dysfunctional family dramaas the glamorous matriarch of the Vuillard family, Junon, who is welcoming her children and their families home for Christmas. She and her husband Abel are dealing with the news that she has leukemia, which is a particularly fraught diagnosis for the family. There were originally two children born to Junon and Abel: Elizabeth and Joseph. When Joseph was a child, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and his parents conceived another son in a desperate bid for a bone marrow match.
A Matriarch Takes Control of Christmas
Henri (Mathieu Amalric) has always known of his provenance and his failure to save his brother. He reacted by becoming the black sheep of the family, generally delighting in stirring up emotions the rest of the family would rather leave buried. It’s a beautiful film about a noisily dysfunctional family, and Deneuve and Amalric are at the top of their gameas a battle-scarred mother and son with good reasons for distrust.you’re able to streamA Christmas Taleon AMC+ or Mubi.
7Luzifer (2021)
Maria, a recovering drug user, has decided to take to a hermetic existence with her mentally challenged son, Johannes. Here, the two form a bond based on the pressures of extreme isolation, religious fervor, and a deep dependency on one another for everything. When their home is threatened by a corporation looking to build a ski resort, the relationship between Maria and her son becomes more intense as she tries to come to terms with the situation and the breakdown of the utopia she had built for them.
A Mother and Son that Suffer Together
What makes Peter Brunner’sLuziferso engaging is how it challenges conceptions of morality around family. The mother/son combo lives almost entirely free of society and adapts to their ritualistic lifestyle; if a child only knows one existence removed from society, how is it amoral if no physical harm comes to him? Still, from an outward perspective,there is something sinister going on, as a mother injects her severe fears into a child incapable of fully contemplating the severity of her words, having never experienced the outside world.
Things get even more complex as Maria begins setting up and punishing Johannes, in a bid to regain some degree of control in her life as she is losing it to outside forces. Asking your son to be both your savior and the devil to your beliefs is a bizarre yet deeply engaging emotional roller coaster inLuzifer.
6Savage Grace (2007)
Tom Kalin’s 2007 drama is based on the life of Antony Baekeland (played by Eddie Redmayne), heir to the Bakelite plastic fortune, and his killing of his mother, Barbara Daly Baekeland (Julianne Moore), as a young man. Antony and his parents lived a peripatetic, luxurious lifestyle, traveling the world in a decadent manner, with both parents engaging in extramarital affairs. They divorced after Antony had an affair with a bisexual man, who also introduced him to drugs. Antony began to show signs of schizophrenia as a young man, and rumors of an incestuous relationship with his mother swirled.
Based on a Tragic True Story
Savage Graceis a heady mix of money, sex, drugs, and madness, with a mother who loves her son too much at its dark center. Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne’s performances push the production into the realm of realism, bringing the harrowing details of the real-life ordeal to the screen. The production has a lot of psychological depth, and it is a film that will leave viewers feeling uncomfortable yet fascinated by the story of what Antony went through.You can streamSavage Graceon AMC+.
