21 Terrible Movie Moms That Will Make You Feel Better (or Worse) About Yours
It’s that time of year again: the day when we all pretend that every mother is a shining saint, a glorious martyr, a perfect vision of feminine virtue that wraps all our ideals of femininity in a pretty bow. Fun! And also too much pressure on mothers and children. Moms are just people who try their best. Or not so much.
No, in fact, some moms are a nightmare, and movies are a great way to digest this annoying fact. Your mother may be difficult, but she locked you in the attic for years? Arrange brainwashing by the communists? Invite you to an orgy? If not, then hey – you’re fine… or at least you’re entitled to feel a little better about your probably very dysfunctional upbringing. And that ‘s the magic of cinema. So let’s take a look at the worst moms in movie history.
Ruth DeWitt Bukater (Frances Fisher), Titanic
There is one moment in Titanic where she helps Rose (Kate Winslet) with her corset, during which we are invited to feel some sympathy for the widowed, impoverished aristocrat Frances Fisher. The woman’s choices were much more limited then than they are today, and her relentless drive to marry off her daughter to the rough but rich Cal in this short scene is like a drive to survive for both of them. That’s all we get, however. In the rest of the film, she is seen as a snide, judgmental, class-obsessed bully with no interest in Rose’s wishes (even if she does deliver the film’s best and driest sarcasm). In the final act, Rose would rather jump into the frozen North Atlantic with a mediocre draftsman than spend another minute with a sweet old mom, and I can’t say I blame her.
Where to stream: Prime Video , Paramount+
Corinne Dollenganger (Victoria Tennant), Flowers in the Attic
It all starts with a choice that seems impossible: suddenly widowed, Korine seeks refuge with her rich, crazy mother, who insists that four children be kept in isolation in one room with access to the attic. Seeing no other choice, Korine agrees, but soon becomes accustomed to the luxurious (I think) lifestyle she is given while she almost completely ignores her children. The increasingly pale and sickly children soon find themselves embroiled in a family story of incest and poison while the mother frolics downstairs. Louise Fletcher’s grandmother, Olivia, isn’t too maternal either, so perhaps Corinne can only take some of the blame.
Where to stream: Prime Video , Tubi , Hoopla
Margaret White (Piper Laurie), Carrie
I grew up with evangelical relatives, so while Carrie’s mom may be a bit extreme, her behavior is hardly wildly inappropriate for a religious parenting fanatic, then or now. A terrifying piece of Stephen King via Brian De Palma, Carrie speaks to queer people in particular as a story of growing up with a parent who thinks you’re mean, even when you’re being bullied at school for being a weirdo, by at least. in the eyes of children with surprisingly easy access to pig blood. If “dirty pillows” sounds like a reasonable synonym for “breasts” to you, you’re probably a terrible parent and you better hope your child doesn’t develop telekinetic abilities.
Where to broadcast: Showtime
Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway), Mommy Dear
We’ll never be sure how closely the camp classic Mommy Dear reflects the parenting style of real-life movie icon Joan Crawford, but the movie version shouldn’t bring home any mother of the year awards, even if it’s all to the point of being hard to take seriously. Crawford is presented as a physically and verbally abusive alcoholic who treats Christina like a handy emotional accessory when she doesn’t scold the girl for not sharing her mom’s obsessive triggers. I’ll say this for Joan: she’s not wrong about wire hangers, even if she needs to calm down about it.
Digital rental: Amazon Prime , Apple TV , Redbox
Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury), Manchurian candidate
Though most often remembered as the shrewd but kindly middle-aged sleuth Jessica Fletcher, Lansbury reinvented herself repeatedly over the course of her long career and gave one of the most chilling performances in film as the titular candidate’s calculating mother. Eleanor Iselin manipulates her Korean War veteran son (Lawrence Harvey) to support her husband’s political career, and is perfectly content to have her child brainwashed by America’s enemies to further her goals. The tense relationship between them plays out less like a mother-son relationship than as if they were lovers, a dramatic choice that lends the entire film a layer of incestuous discomfort.
Where to stream: Tubi , The Roku Channel , Pluto , Freevee
Mary Jones (Mo’Nique), Precious
I won’t spend a lot of time on Precious , not because it’s not worth discussing, and not because Mo’Nique didn’t deserve its Oscar, but just because its “bad mom” elements are as deep and dark as can be. Mary Lee Johnston is violent in every possible way, including aiding the rape of her daughter Precious (Gabourey Sidibe).
Where to stream: HBO Max
Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn), “Suddenly, Last Summer”
You could argue that Violet Venable just wants to protect the reputation of her son Sebastian, who died in a small Spanish town in the company of his cousin Katherine. Her methods are extreme: she used her money to convince various doctors to keep Katherine under lock and key, and is even on the verge of giving her a lobotomy, all to make sure no one ever finds out that Sebastian was gay, and in Spain almost completely fuck. Mrs. Venable’s embarrassment about her son’s orientation is certainly unpleasant, but she also exhibits an uncomfortable obsession bordering on the oedipal with him, and he, in turn, used her to attract men. Aside from the complexity of their relationship, lobotomizing relatives is not the way to support your queer kids.
Digital rental: Prime Video , Apple TV , Voodoo
Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman), The Others
It’s impossible to completely hate Grace. After all, the woman had gone through a lot: her husband had gone off to war (World War II, to be more precise), leaving her with her children in a huge remote old house on the Channel Island of Jersey that had only recently been abandoned by the Nazis. Grace is nervous from the first frame, demanding strict adherence to the rules one moment, and the next moment she goes absolutely crazy, all the while locking her light-sensitive (or are they?) children in a darkened house. While the film ultimately offers the character a measure of grace, if not redemption, we learn the true extent of her transgressions before the end, and they are unforgivable.
Where to stream: Currently unavailable
Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), Friday the 13th
Look, some might argue that Pamela’s devotion to her child (participating in murders to avenge his death) is evidence that she is not only not a bad mother, but also a wonderful one . But the film doesn’t really offer evidence for this, focusing only on her murders of unrelated teenagers, acts triggered by the accidental drowning of her child (teenagers who presumably also have parents who are now sad). This is speculation, but I have a feeling that Mrs. Voorhees was not exactly stable from the start, and despite this, she killed people who somewhat resemble the people you blame for the death of your child (which even in fact not dead) is hardly a healthy way to deal with grief.
Where to stream: Prime Video , Paramount+
Mrs. Vail (Gladys Cooper), Now, Voyager
One of the coolest people to ever live in Hollywood, Bette Davis becomes an introverted, shy, and perpetually nervous nerd , beaten up by a mom who reminds her at every turn that she was an unwanted child turned burdensome adult. When Davis’ Charlotte is finally starting to break out of her shell and free herself from her mother’s influence, Mrs. Davis steps in to make her feel like crap again. Of course, the forced codependency of the couple persists even after the death of the mother; I’m spitting here, but maybe telling your kids how useless they are all the time isn’t the best way to be a parent.
Where to stream: HBO Max
Kate McCallister (Catherine O’Hara), “Home Alone”
Do not leave your child at home – twice – and do not expect any parental prizes for him. I’m sure helping to raise a family in an upper-middle-class white suburb with enough money to pack the whole family on a plane to Paris is incredibly difficult…but forgetting your kid at home a few times (depending on how you think different low-budget sequels) is funny.
Where to stream: Starz
Lady Tremaine (Eleanor Audley), Cinderella
We know her not by name, but by the well-deserved title of “evil stepmother.” After the death of Cinderella’s father, Lady Tremaine decides that the interests of her biological daughters are all she cares about, and therefore sends our heroine to work in the kitchen, continuing to sabotage her every attempt to be happy. All this backfires on her, but not before we are reminded that stepmothers are mothers and adopted children are children, so don’t send them to live in the basement or you’ll regret it.
Where to stream: Disney+
Mother (Kim Hye-ja), Mother
When unnamed widow Bong Joon-Ho learns that her son has been arrested for murder, the doting mom decides she will do anything to get him cleared. Like, anything , including committing additional murders herself. While there’s something to be said for such maternal devotion, and she’s certainly one you’d love to have in your corner, we’ll also learn that she makes up for some of the really awful acts done when her son was a child. Maternal devotion must have healthier limits.
Where to stream: The Roku Channel , Vudu , Redbox
Monica Swinton (Frances O’Connor), artificial intelligence AI
The Swinton family take David in after their son falls ill, causing him to fall into a coma; he is Mecha, a prototype robot capable of emotion, who is imprinted immediately and indelibly on his new mom. However, once the Swintons’ biological son gets better, David finds himself not only inadequate, but annoying and envious. So even though she feels a little guilty, Monica abandons him in the woods, sending him on a centuries-long journey to find something like the love of the mother who abandoned him.
Stream Where: Paramount+
Sally (Jillian Bell), Cowboys
Sally’s endless gender misrepresentation of her transgender son (Sasha Knight) sends the boy and his father Troy (Steve Zahn) on an adventure in the Montana wilderness. Sally not only refuses to accept her child (who clearly has a lot more in common than either of his parents), she even refuses to let him do anything even remotely “masculine” for fear that watching cowboy movies… will make him more transgender. Maybe? Unrepentant transphobes make pretty terrible parents, that’s the lesson.
Where to stream: Hulu
Umma (MeeWha Alana Lee), Umma
It looks like Korean immigrant Amanda (Sandra Oh) and her daughter Chrissy (Fievel Stewart) are doing well, living together on a rural and seemingly idyllic farm, away from modern technology. This continued until Amanda receives the ashes of her ummah (her mother), with whom she cut all ties after a cruel childhood. While we learn of the challenges Umma faced when she came to the United States as a single mother with no English language skills and no sense of community, her various abuses (including electrocution) can hardly be justified. It’s a story of generational trauma in the form of a horror film, exploring Amanda’s deep fear of becoming her mother, even as she literally possesses her.
Where to stream: Netflix
Charlotte Andergast (Ingrid Bergman), “Autumn Sonata”
Like so many of Ingmar Bergman’s films, the tone in Autumn Sonata is cold until it ceases to be a reunion of mother and daughter seething with repressed emotions and an exploration of politeness until everything boils over. Charlotte, played by Ingrid Bergman, is definitely a bad mother – she is a world-class pianist, wildly self-absorbed and with little interest in anything other than her own career. Her daughter Eva (Liv Ullmann), on the other hand, takes care of her disabled sister while in a passionless marriage, living in the shadow of her great mother. The story isn’t really about Charlotte’s parenting skills (which, again, are almost non-existent), but about how the two women hurt each other, and the extent to which communication and reconciliation may still be possible.
Where to watch: HBO Max , The Criterion Channel
Helen Macready (Amy Ryan), “Gone Baby Gone”
Foul-mouthed drug dealer Helen gets points for her genuine desire to fix the terrible mess she’s made in her daughter’s life; Helen stole $130,000 from a drug lord, an act that led to the kidnapping of her daughter Amanda (sort of). However, even besides putting her daughter in danger, we’re also familiar with some of Helen’s parenting styles, and that’s not a good thing either. So much so that the private detectives hired to find the missing girl begin to question whether they are even doing the right thing in trying to bring her home. However, the great Amy Ryan received an Academy Award nomination for her performance, so a bad mom definitely doesn’t equal a bad actress.
Where to stream: HBO Max
Erica Sayers (Barbara Hershey), Black Swan
In Darren Aronofsky’s psychological horror thriller Black Swan, Erica Sayers is one of the most dramatic cinematic examples of a resentful parent; someone who feels like they gave up their dream to raise a child and for that child to justify himself, damn it. Erica is overprotective at times but always overbearing, and it’s clear that her prodigy daughter Nina (Natalie Portman)’s ultimate breakdown is almost entirely due to her mother’s controlling grip.
Where to stream: Hulu
Vera Cosgrove (Elizabeth Moody), The Living Dead
The overbearing mother is a character that’s pretty well played out, but this 1992 Peter Jackson classic certainly goes further than audiences expected. Vera is the mother of a shy Lionel (Timothy Balm) who finally meets a woman who is interested in him. The stalker Vera follows them to the zoo on their date, only to be bitten by a Sumatran monkey rat, which gives her a sort of zombie rabies. She dies, but is reborn with an insatiable taste of flesh, which, of course, Lionel has to deal with. He is so under her heel that even after her death he cleans up after her.
Digital rental: Prime Video
Helene (Isabelle Huppert), Ma Mer
This is a film about mother and son, as well as an erotic drama, besides French, so there can be no unpleasant moments. The film opens with Hélène discussing her promiscuity with her son Pierre (Louis Garrel) before inviting him to an orgy. Which, at the risk of sounding too prim, probably shouldn’t happen outside of stepmom porn. This is far from over, but I’ll stop here.
Where to stream: Currently unavailable