Performances as internal and understated as that of Trace Lysette, playing Monica, a transwoman returning to spend time with her terminally ill mother, might not be as eye-catching as the big showy awards contenders. But this is remarkable, delicate work from Lysette (Transparent, Hustlers) – a performance that deserves to be part of the year’s awards conversations.
Much is left unsaid in this empathic drama. Monica, it’s clear from the anguished voicemail messages she leaves for a former lover, is going through a painful breakup. She is also dealing with the accumulated trauma of a 20-year estrangement from her mother (Patricia Clarkson), who is now in the gruelling final stages of cancer. A call from the sister-in-law that Monica has never met (Emily Browning) draws her back home to care for a parent who doesn’t yet recognise the statuesque, striking woman as her absent child.
Director Andrea Pallaoro, whose previous work includes Hannah, starring Charlotte Rampling, contains the family in uneasy proximity in a tight, square aspect ratio that emphasises the tactile quality of the interactions between the characters and the camerawork. The result is a film of quiet but considerable power.
