Goodnight Mommy

"A mother should look out for her sons."

2015 1h 40m DE

👍

6.7

SOLID

🍅

85%

FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

6.7

IMDB

★6.7TMDB · 1,748🍅85%Rotten Tomatoes●81Metacritic★6.7IMDB · 63,611

HorrorMysteryThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In the heat of the summer lays a lonesome house in the countryside where nine year old twin brothers await their mother’s return. When she comes home, bandaged after cosmetic surgery, nothing is like before and the children start to doubt whether this woman is actually who she says she is.

“A mother should look out for her sons.”

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Cast

Elias Schwarz
Elias
Lukas Schwarz
Lukas
Susanne Wuest
Mother
Hans Escher
Priest
Elfriede Schatz
Red Cross Collector #1
Karl Purker
Red Cross Collector #2
Georg Deliovsky
Pizza Supplier
Christian Steindl
Mesner

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Severin Fiala
Writers: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Languages: German
Countries: Austria

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 11 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Severin Fiala, shot by Martin Gschlacht. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Olga Neuwirth. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Palm shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Elias Schwarz and Lukas Schwarz and Susanne Wuest carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A mother should look out for her sons.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt3086442 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Severin Fiala directs. Martin Gschlacht behind the camera. Olga Neuwirth scores. Michael Palm cuts. Produced in Austria. Dialogue in German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 11 years ago.
2Directed by Severin Fiala, shot by Martin Gschlacht. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Olga Neuwirth. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Michael Palm shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Elias Schwarz and Lukas Schwarz and Susanne Wuest carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "A mother should look out for her sons.".
7IMDB entry: tt3086442 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 22 themes, including "mask", "fire", "lake", "countryside".
9Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Martin Gschlacht
Original score: Olga Neuwirth
Editing: Michael Palm
Production design: Hannes Salat
Costume design: Tanja Hausner
Makeup / hair: Roman Braunhofer
VFX supervisor: Martin Stegmayer
Sound: Matz Müller
Stunt coordinator: Tissi Brandhofer
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $2,193,474
Original language: DE
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Goodnight Mommy (2015)
Rotten Tomatoes: 85% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 81/100
IMDB rating: 6.7/10 · 63,611 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

23 wins & 36 nominations total

European Film Award for Best Cinematographer

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Severin Fiala

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2015-09-24
★ 8.5/10
If a mother isn't being one, her own child would doubt her. The Austrian thriller-drama, is going to contend with another nearly 100 movies from the different countries for the upcoming (2016) American Academy Awards. I hope it will make into the final shortlist and my wishes to the cast and the crew. A minimal cast movie, set in an isolated lake house where the 9 years old twin boys and their mother lives. After their mother returning from the major facial surgery, the brothers doubts is she's the same person. They have no choice, but have to go for an unusual route to find out the truth. Initially it was very slow, but keeps accelerating since the beginning of the second half and it ends strongly. You have to be an open minded, that is very important especially for this movie. Try to understand what it delivers than what you want see. I mean prediction is okay, but don't assume in a wider aspect. The narration was so simple and you may think the end is so cliche, but the movie does not bother to provide a surprise. Before going to talk about the twist, you have clear a couple of things. The first question you have to answer yourself is what is 'horror' mean to you. The demons? The ghosts? Other creepy creatures? The zombies? Possession and exorcism? Haunted places and objects? Imposter? You know 'terror' is also called 'horror', which is a very close to the 'thriller' than being an actual 'horror'. Different movies explain in a different way, but this movie is not that distinctive from those, except being unconventional in revealing the details related to the story and characters. "I want you to repeat ten times that I'm your mother." This film had a few diversions in the name of the genre. That is the reason why it failed to satisfy the horror fans, but so much better without mentioning that around. You have to be careful from the beginning itself, observing closely every scene. Because the storytelling commences with a hint within the first 10 minutes which is equivalent to the twist. You must get it right, or the rest of the narration won't be interesting enough. So it is a one time shot, for the second time watch it won't be that effective. Some people deny the casual twist that comes in the first act which is too early for them and so they expects one in the final section only to get disappointed. Nothing wrong with the audience getting annoyed, but the film being atypical, just changing the order of all the three acts, that's it. The writer wanted the viewers to keep guessing throughout the their watch. That's the twist in the filmmaking, not in the actual film. Other than that it was not a smartest movie with the turnovers to amaze or confuse you. I mean it has a proper conclusion, and you would know what it is, but should have to wait for how it's going to take place. I have seen many guys criticising that part particularly, but I felt it was good and made the movie a better product. Definitely one of the best films of the year, especially in my perception. From the posters to the trailer and teaser to the movie, it was being truthful. Never intend to cheat you, except like I said if you assume the things to happen in your way. Specially a big NO to the fancy stuffs like graphics and high pitch sudden sound/noise that's very common in horror to scare you. If you are a Hollywood fanatic, you definitely miss those doses and blame the movie. A great directional debut as well as the twins with the real names on-screen. It got some intense scares, but limits the grossness. Had less dialogues and more in acts. Pretty rare movie and I am surprised that the critics liked this film more than the movie fanatics. But I'm happy that I'm not one of those to dislike it being a movie buff. My only disappointment is the outro scene (the exit scene) (in Hollywood it for kissing) which comes after the conclusion and before the end credit (sometimes, along the credit). I strongly recommend it, and I hope you consider some of the points I wrote in this review, otherwise I barely recommend it. 8/10
furious_iz2018-01-01
★ 5/10
Less than I hoped it would be. I went into this film spoiler free, knowing nothing more than the tag line. While it was well acted and well paced for the most part, the twist was heavy handed and obvious from early on. Maybe I would have liked this film more if there was more subtlety to it. A good film should still entertain if you know the twist or not, and for me, guessing it so early just hampered my enjoyment. The denouement was handled well, but the lead up let it down.