Mothers are always praised and glorified for the sacrifices that they make and are called supermoms, if they find a balance with their family and work life. Movies have always portrayed mothers as either sacrificial or supermoms. But do all the mothers choose the same road?
Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'The Lost Daughter' speaks for all the flawed unnatural mothers. People who become mothers at an early age, who feel traumatized by the whole new version of themselves, who live in fear of losing their original identity in the run for creating one for their children, who make choices selfishly regardless of their children's needs. Leda in the movie, in fear of losing her individuality in the love for her children, takes a decision to focus on her career. She finds it as an amazing experience and embraces everything that she desired, peeling off the perfect mother image that she is supposed to keep.
When women are considered to have innate motherness in them, people don't realise that not all the women can be "perfect mothers". Flawed mothers and their maternal guilt, and their struggle between the desire to live on one's own terms and to live for someone else, needs a representation.
Leda is conflicted about being liberated from the responsibilities of parenthood and wracked by guilt for the price she paid for that freedom. The suffocating claustrophobic motherhood that young Leda experiences with an unsupportive husband contributes to her momentous decision to choose herself. She upends the centuries of self- sacrificing image of mother and chooses herself because mothers are individuals with flaws, and everyone cannot be supermoms.
Leda and Nina in the movie demands to look deep into the problematic depiction of mothers and motherhood in our social structure. Leda and Nina haven’t simply resigned to the fact that they’re emotionally detached, they’re caught in a catastrophic cycle of wanting to abide by, but also wanting to break free. In Leda, Nina can see her future, and it terrifies her. And in Nina, Leda can see her past. Unlike the orange peel, this chain will likely remain unbroken.
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