All Business Halloween Week Day 2: The Eyes of My Mother

Year Released: 2016
Director: Nicolas Pesce. This is Pesce’s directorial debut. He also wrote and edited the picture.
Plot: The Eyes of My Mother tells the story of Francisca. As a child (played by Olivia Bond), she lives on a farm peacefully until tragedy strikes when Charlie (Will Brill), a door to door salesman comes round to their house. The film then follows Francisca to adulthood (now played by Kika Magalhaes), and tracks how the event from the past influences her life from that point on.

Why To See It: Based on that plot description you might be thinking that The Eyes of My Mother seems more like a dark Sundance style drama than anything else. Well you’d be half right. This film did premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, but it is very much a psychological horror film (although it’s not without its gore). The Eyes of My Mother is seriously messed up. It takes a detached towards Francisca and refuses to judge her or her actions. It is a portrait of this woman and the goings on on her farm, it could have been any farm, but it happens to be one of pure dread and psychological anguish.
Pesce is able to fill his low budget film with uniformly amazing performances. The two actresses who play Francisca at the two different ages are able to keep her from our understanding, but without letting her seem empty. This is especially the case with Magalhaes, who plays Francisca with such specificity that she creates an iconic character that burns her way into your mind. She is full of so much, but she is not at all like us. Whether she wants to be or not is up for the viewer to decipher. Also incredible is that previously mentioned door to door salesman. I have felt discomfort on the level that I feel the moment he shows up at the farm.
Pesce has also made a very strong stylistic decision to film in black and white. He and his cinematographer Zach Kuperstein have made one of the more visually striking horror films in years. The use of light and particles in the air is absolutely breathtaking. The film also favors some very long shots, some of which create an unbearable amount of tension. Most films like this would have adopted a verite style to attempt to capture the immediacy of Tobe Hooper and Daniel Pearl’s work on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but by presenting its content with such gorgeous beauty, The Eyes of My Mother is able to feel just as brutal, albeit in a different way.
By keeping us at arm’s length, Pesce is able to let us draw conclusions on what we see, fill in the gaps between the sections, and try to come to terms with Francisca. We are confronted by violence and behavior that is disturbing, but we have witnessed its roots. This is a film about how tragedy can warp us and how we react and deal with it. Does violence shatter our innocence and change us or simply illuminate a darkness we already have within? Be prepared to have all sorts of feels.

Scare Factor: Less scare, more creep. Every moment in this film is unsettling. Get ready for it to crawl right under your skin, straight into your core, and take up residence there for a good while. That’s not to say that there aren’t some very intense and scary moments. Francisca bringing a potential partner home treads a line between twisted comedy and pure fear that will leave you breathless. It is better to just take my word for it because the less you know going in the better this movie’s spell will infect you.
Recommended?: Absolutely, if you think you can handle it. The Eyes of My Mother is NOT for the faint of heart, but it is an ultimately rewarding experience. If you are a fan of the ever growing Art House Horror movement that includes films like Neon Demon, The Witch, and It Comes at Night then this film is essential to you. Plus it’s only 77 minutes long!
Warning: I think that those calling this film an Art House answer to the torture porn movement is reductive unless you want to put it in the same category as something like Martyrs (which is not for the faint or even strong at heart but is absolutely incredible all the same). That being said, this film does have some very disturbing images scattered throughout its runtime so definitely be warned. It is also arty, which will annoy some viewers more than any amount of blood.