‘Proxima’ – a Mother-Daughter relationship
Proxima is a film that hit the festival circuit (Toronto, San Sebastian, Rotterdam, Gothenburg) in Autumn 2019. Made by French director Alice Winocour, its launch into cinemas got held up by the coronavirus lockdown and now that cinemas are reopening the film is being relaunched in a number of countries.
‘Proxima’ is the name of a space program, a long term Mars probe mission. Sarah (played by Eva Green) is a female engineer, selected for this mission, together with two seasoned space-men. The film is less about the mission than about the pressure on the mother-daughter relationship that such a long absence and such a big risk causes. For Sarah it is a career chance, once in a lifetime, the fulfilment of her loftiest dreams. Stella who lives with her mother needs to be taken care of during the mission partly by her father who lives as a scientist in Germany and partly by a care-taker. She misses her mother dearly . The struggle between the magnetic draw into space and her place and role as a mother on earth escalates. How an ambitious mother and a needy child can find a way forward together when dreams and needs collide is the emotional dilemma of this film.
Subtle story-telling, excellent acting and a unique setting with interesting detail gave me a good film experience!
Rinus, June 2020
*image posted for non commercial purposes under fair use of copyright material in recommendation of the film
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