Mater (I) (2017) User Reviews

Has potential

[cd-75850 · 6/10 · 30 September 2018]

Just wanted to clarify that this is a film adaptation of a play, which was performed by the same actors. I know it's rather controversial in how it downplays the effects of sexual abuse. Darío goes from the stiffling enmeshment with his mother to Stockholm Syndrome-like identification with his rapists. In essence, characters in Mater are all plagued by their impotence. Violence is how they get their needs met. Much more I could say, as there are many competing semi-developed psychoanalytic themes, but I'll just keep this lacking in closure, like Mater.

dangerously simplistic

[wolkner · 1/10 · 12 March 2018]

At the centre of MATER's plot is the rape of a man by a lesbian couple wanting a baby desperately. How the filmmaker mixes lesbian family plans and male (heterosexual) rape is dangerously simplistic. Both topics are important to talk about, if handled seriously and/or compassionately, but director and writer Pablo D'Alo Abba doesn't care for real emotions - or the effects of his representation - at all. Instead he fills the space between conceptual plot points with boring shallowness, wasting a lot of potential and eventually aiming for a corny happy ending. Why did Abba choose a lesbian and not a heterosexual couple (the man could have been infertile) for his story? Maybe he had good reasons, but probably not. The consequence of Abba's choice is that (once again) lesbians are being portrayed as psychologically damaged (egotistically committing rape without any sympathy or remorse during or after). Neither does Abba comprehend the emotional impact of rape, so he sends his male protagonist (a ne'er-do-well) on a quest of seeking co-parenthood with his rapists to escape his dominant mother. Really? In my humble opinion as a queer festival director, this film is doing a huge disservice to the discussion of any of its topics.

Unusual brave comedy

[firoozh · 7/10 · 3 September 2018]

I liked this film for its unusual story, it would have never been made in United States due to the subject matter and fear of political backlash. At it's heart it's a comedy dealing with class and love

Originally disturbing...

[juanmuscle · 10/10 · 17 October 2018]

I found this to be very interesting, I was gripped and I don't know why... I thought the whole thing to be a terrible debacle that served up only a moot point, owing to the whole dyke thing and the rape scene and him being young and I thought what is going on here, but I was riveted to what the hell was going on. I sort of get from the dykes perspective , one can only imagine how difficult it must be to bring a life into the world without a phallus, but dang! This took were getting prego no matter what to a whole new level! Very interesting, no you haven't seen anything like this... trust me!

Excellent Argentine drama...

[RosanaBotafogo · 8/10 · 2 July 2021]

Excellent Argentine drama, a rape of two women (girlfriends) to a man (who was a childhood friend of one of them), and what most involved me was the emotional fragility, by which the young man adult passed (lack of professional perspective, emotional and financial dependence on the mother, controlling and intimidating, needy, psychologically weakened), a beautiful and sad daily life, highlighting the annoying and significant silence of the grandmother, welcoming, suffering, but always strong...