Calcutta, 1948: Sister Teresa, Mother Superior of the Loreto Order, is keen to found a new order, one dedicated entirely to improving the lot of the very poorest. It is a radical plan for which she needs the Vatican’s approval. She receives it, but only on the condition that she arranges her own succession. Teresa has a favourite in mind, Sister Agnieszka, but when she reveals that she is pregnant, everything is thrown into doubt. Teresa has just one week left.
With Mother, Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska has certainly not delivered a standard ‘hagiographic’ biopic. Mother Teresa is portrayed as a flesh-and-blood human being, someone full of doubts who struggles with power and her ideals. All of this, combined with the punk-inspired soundscape and the at times wild camerawork, makes this film a feminist origin story, told in seven chapters. Starring Noomi Rapace and Sylvia Hoeks in the lead roles.