[Film Review] Mother Superior (2022)

In 1975, Sigrun, an anesthetist in training, agrees to care for the ailing, eccentric Baroness Heidenreich in her crumbling, dilapidated country pile. Alone, except for the Baroness and her equally strange man servant Otto, Sigrun begins to explore the long abandoned dusty rooms, filled with records, chemistry sets, esoteric symbols and taxidermy animals, searching for the truth about her past. As her desperation for the truth intensifies, she learns that the price of knowledge is high and that wily old ladies should not be trusted.

Mother Superior is a visually sumptuous gothic fairy tale, exploring the notions of purity, bloodlines and occult fascination of the Nazi regime through a narrative filled with dreamy, folkloric imagery. Sigrun’s search for her past, for her family, is embedded in the chaos of post war Europe, and Baroness Heidenreich, in her tomb of a mansion, is a vivid reminder of the sins of the past. As the woman in charge of the Aryan maternity ward where Sigrun was born, she holds the keys to Sigrun’s past. This creates a tension that carries over into Sigrun’s conversations with a colleague seeking to expose the actions of people like the Baroness. People who committed despicable atrocities and then were able to blend into the background and live a normal life. This friction between wanting the answers for herself, and wanting to work for the greater good is an interesting theme, as is the general aura of uncertainty that clouds Sigrun throughout, as someone who has no idea who she is, or where she came from. This sense of displacement is not often explored in horror, particularly in this post war context, so it is refreshing to see it so compellingly explored here.

There is also the ever-present loom of a coven of powerful women throughout the film, women who refuse to be subjugated, who want to take power for themselves. It is easy to want to relate to these women, who turn, as groups of women in horror so often do, to nature and witchcraft to achieve these ends. However, there is also an undercurrent of eugenics, and the suffering of others as a byproduct of achieving their goals. This brings up the uncomfortable tensions often felt in contemporary feminism. In Mother Superior, these women were apparently transgressive, groundbreaking examples of modern values in a patriarchal society. However, there are also ties to the hideousness of the Nazi regime, and its obsession with ‘purity’. This echoes much of the conflict with contemporary feminist factions who seek power for women, but only those who look like them. This places Mother Superior in an interesting position between present and past, reminding us that evil never dies, it only changes form.

Mother Superior is a beautifully dreamy horror, with vivid folk elements and an interesting exploration of the nature of evil and the sins of the past on future generations. It is well paced, although a longer run time would have given more opportunity to explore the themes in greater depth. However, there is much to recommend this film, including a fresh take on witchcraft, and an interesting final twist. 

RELATED ARTICLES

---

---

EXPLORE

---

MORE ARTICLES

---

---