YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER Trailer: If It's Not Her Mom, Then What is She?

In a North Dublin housing estate Char's mother goes missing. When she returns Char is determined to uncover the truth of her disappearance and unearth the dark secrets of her family.

Kate Dolan's feature debut You Are Not My Mother looks at what it means to be a mother, and a daughter, when violent, poverty, and isolation are daily facts of life. Combine this with some scary Irish folklore, and it's a terrific debut, a slow-burn horror of loneliness and fearful anticipation.

 

There's no end to the grim and forboding atmosphere in You Are Not My Mother, but Dolan supports it with a familiar story given a good twist that makes us rethink and reimagine how we view the monsters in our own homes.

It’s the week before Halloween. Char’s bedridden mother, Angela, has mysteriously gone missing. All that remains is her abandoned car parked in the middle of a field. When Angela returns home to their North Dublin estate the following evening without explanation, it becomes clear to Char and her grandmother, Rita, that something is amiss. She might look and sound the same, but Angela’s behavior has become increasingly erratic and frightening, as if she has been replaced by a malevolent force. As Halloween approaches, a night steeped in ancient Irish myth and legend, Char must unearth the dark secrets of her family in order to uncover the truth behind her mother's disappearance and save her, even if it means potentially losing her forever.