Top 10 Mother Daughter Movies
There is nothing quite like the bond between a mother and daughter. For this list, we'll be films that explores mother/daughter relationships on a deeper level; just having mother daughter as protagonists doesn't cut it. We'll also be excluding animated films and documentaries so Grey Gardens won't be included. We've included movies such as Lady Bird, The Joy Luck Club, Imitation of Life, Mommie Dearest, The Piano, Autumn Sonata.
#10: “Lady Bird” (2017)
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Seventeen-year-old Christine – or as she calls herself, Lady Bird – wants so much more from life than what Sacramento has to offer. Her home life can be tense, she dreams of leaving her Catholic high school and, after graduation, taking off to an artsy school on the East Coast. Whether she likes it or not, she gets her strong will from her mother, who she constantly rails against and targets for her discontent in life. As Lady Bird fights to claim her independence, she even begins to suspect that her mother does not love her. But like many mother/daughter bonds, no matter how fraught their relationship is, they have a unique bond.
#9: “Real Women Have Curves” (2002)
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To Ana García, her mother Carmen is a control freak who does not want the best for her. Despite her dreams of college, her mother insists that she stay at home, keep the family together, and work in the family textile factory, insisting that they need her help to keep it open. Despite her mother’s domineering and abusive ways, Ana tirelessly blazes her own trail, even inspiring other women when her mother tries to tear them all down. It is not the happiest of stories, but complex and heart wrenching nonetheless.
#8: “Mermaids” (1990)
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Rachel Flax is an eccentric woman with a devil-may-care attitude, with her two daughters resulting from two different affairs. After yet another move, this time to Eastport, Massachusetts, eldest daughter, Charlotte (played by Winona Ryder) begins to develop odd, bordering on dangerous obsessions with both the nuns and the convent near their house, as well as the twenty-six-year-old caretaker. Although Rachel is as flighty as they come, when it comes to her daughters her love is rock-solid. She is by no means a perfect parent, but when she sees her daughter growing up way too fast, they come to understand each other like never before.
#7: “The Joy Luck Club” (1993)
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At the Joy Luck Club, Chinese women meet and share stories of their past. In this film consisting of multiple short vignettes, familial stories spanning generations are told. Mostly centering around first-generation immigrant families, the aging women discuss the tales of tempestuous relationships between four sets of mothers and daughters. The drama shows how the events of the past (abuses, expectations, and precarious living situations) that affected mothers so deeply can echo through the years and ultimately have an influence on the lives of their children.
#6: “Postcards from the Edge” (1990)
After being released from rehab, recovering addict Suzanne Vale is told that she will have to find a stable place to stay if she ever wants to get her acting career back on track. She is reluctant to return to a woman she had grown to resent for her taunting and infantilizing treatment, and from whose shadow she feels she has finally escaped. Despite all this, it becomes clear that deep down they truly understand one another, and they’ll be there for each other in times of need.
#5: “Imitation of Life” (1959)
Lora just wants to be a successful actress, but her pursuit of her career means that her daughter, Susie, is mostly raised by her nanny, a black woman named Annie. Annie’s own daughter, Sarah Jane, is quite fair-skinned and tries to her best to pass as white – a complicated situation fraught with its own problems. Susie, not really knowing her mother, has a closer relationship with Annie, and develops a crush on her mother’s boyfriend; "Sarah Jane resents her mother, and just wants the life she sees available to Susie and Lora.” Considered one of the greatest films of all time, it is a complex story of mothers, daughters, women, class, and race.
#4: “Mommie Dearest” (1981)
Based off the 1978 autobiography of the same name by Christina Crawford, the embittered adopted daughter of golden era Hollywood actress Joan Crawford, “Mommie Dearest” paints the classic star in a less than flattering light. The movie recounts the reported abuses Christina and her adoptive siblings had to endure at the hand of their alcoholic, mentally unstable, perfectionist, and judgmental mother. There is no love lost between mother and daughter, as Christina’s traumatic childhood unfolds in melodramatic fashion for the whole world to see. Definitely not a feel good film, but an important one nonetheless.
#3: “Terms of Endearment” (1983)
Mother and daughter Aurora and Emma Greenway have a strong relationship. As a widow, Aurora has grown especially close to her daughter. But when Emma meets a man whom she disapproves of and then marries him despite her misgivings, that bond becomes deeply strained. Despite this, Aurora is a protective mother and eventually grandmother, and they find new ways to find joy and respect one another despite their differences. Their friendship is ever growing and evolving as people come and go from their lives, all the way to the bitter end. We all know this one is a tearjerker, and if you’ve seen it you’ll know why.
#2: “Anywhere but Here” (1999)
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Adele August has always had big dreams: a house in Hollywood and the life of a star. The glamorous life is the last thing her daughter Ann wants. All she needs is her small town, good grades, and acceptance into a top university. But Adele packs up their life in the country, and together they move to California. Here Adele signs her daughter up for auditions she doesn’t want, with the two living in near-poverty all so Adele can pursue her dreams for Ann. Tensions mount as Ann becomes increasingly frustrated with her mother trying to live vicariously through her. Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions. “Mamma Mia!” (2008) “Freaky Friday” (2003)
#1: “Autumn Sonata” (1978)
After seven years apart, Eva invites her mother Charlotte, an eccentric, world-famous pianist, to visit her in her new life. Eva is depressed, and through conversation it is gradually learned that Eva’s four-year-old son, whom Charlotte never met, drowned; that she doesn’t truly love her husband; and that she spends her days trying to take care of her home and her disabled sister. She is not as accomplished as her aloof mother, and they will always be very different people. The characters seem very human, and over the course of the visit they reopen wounds - but also the chance for reconciliation.
