Cinematic reality check on sensitive social issues – at 11:05 p.m. on ORF 2
Vienna (OTS) – Breaking taboos or removing taboos from a sensitive subject? “Do women have to be mothers?” asks the “dokFilm” on Sunday, May 12, 2024, at 11:05 p.m. on ORF 2 with the documentary of the same name by Inés Peris Mestre and Laura García Andreu, which is based on the bold claim that motherhood is overrated be. The slightly different approach to Mother’s Day – supported by those affected and experts – subjects the topic to a reality check. The motivation of the filmmakers: Women are under considerable social pressure to fulfill their biological role and bring children into the world. Maternal instinct and maternal happiness are much-touted keywords. “It’s time to talk about negative aspects too,” say the two directors – and are looking for answers to many relevant questions. A slightly different approach to Mother’s Day.
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Women who do not see children as the ultimate fulfillment are suspected of being infantile, neurotic and narcissistic. Who would say the same about childless men? And in an overpopulated world, isn’t it selfish to have children? Are childless women condemned to a meaningless existence?
By no means, says Spanish social worker Irati Fernández, “we have simply hyped up motherhood into an incredibly romantic experience,” “but sometimes mothers want to throw everything overboard and sometimes they wonder whether it was the right decision.”
However, talking about it is taboo. “There are no safe spaces in which we can question motherhood without being lynched by certain people,” says Luisa, one of the protagonists in the film. She was 19 when she had her child. Loving her daughter and still struggling with motherhood is not a contradiction for her.
As mothers, many women suffer from the loss of their identity and the fact that someone is dependent on them. They are often ashamed of these feelings and wonder if there is something wrong with them.
It’s all conditioning, says the philosopher Elisabeth Badinter: “The history of women shows how much we are shaped by society, culture and our environment.”
In literature and film, childless women are portrayed as heartless, evil characters. The author Kate Fox thoroughly dispels this cliché. In her humorous one-woman show, she chats humorously about her life as a committed non-mother. She says she never consciously decided against having a child, she just didn’t feel the desire to have children.