Mammal

Film Info

Ireland 2016 | 96 min. Director: Rebecca Daly

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Mammal

Synopsis

The compelling story of a woman who has lost her son and develops an unorthodox relationship with a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the escalation of her ex-husband's grieving rage.

Cast & Crew

Director

Rebecca Daly
Producer

Macdara Kelleher, Conor Barry
Screenwriter

Rebecca Daly
Director of photography

Lennart Verstagen
Main Cast

Rachel Griffiths (Margaret), Barry Keoghan (Joe), Michael McElhatton (Matt)
Editor (Cut)

Halina Daugird
Sound Design

Marco Vermaas
Original Score

Rutger Reinders
Production Design

Audrey Hernu
Costume Design

Uli Simon
Makeup

Gerda Koekoek, Fabienne Adam

Director's comment

started this film with the idea of exploring an alternative kind of mother, the one who leaves, the one who doesn’t know how to mother. It troubles me that women are typically more harshly judged than men in relation to how they parent or don’t parent their children. This is complex and tied up in a view of the mother as more essential to a child’s development but the result is that her identity is automatically more subsumed by becoming a parent than is the case for men. I wanted to see what the audience could feel about this woman who chose to leave her child, not for any great ambition but just because she couldn’t, or didn’t know how to, live the life of mother and wife. Margaret’s choice to leave underpins her reaction to Patrick’s death and her attempt to mother Joe. If she felt she had the right to grieve her own son it’s unlikely that she would seek out a substitute. But while this is still an element of the film, what emerged finally is a complicated love story: the story of a woman who tries to love her son too late and the complex relationship she forms with a surrogate.

Biography

Rebecca Daly studied theatre directing and acting and then went on to study film. Her first short, JOYRIDERS (2006), won the Irish Film Award and several international awards. Her short film HUM was funded as one of the finalists for the Berlin Today Award 2010. Her first feature film, THE OTHER SIDE OF SLEEP, was selected for the Cannes 'Cinéfondation Résidence du Festival' programme. It premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and in the Discovery section of the Toronto IFF 2011. Rebecca was selected to participate in the first Berlinale Residency with her second feature film MAMMAL. She is currently in development on the feature project GOOD FAVOUR.

Filmography
2011 - THE OTHER SIDE OF SLEEP
2010 - HUM, short
2006 - JOYRIDERS, short