1991-2000 Austria Comedy Cult Harald Sicheritz

Harald Sicheritz – Muttertag AKA Mother’s Day (1994)

adminJanuary 28, 2022

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This film is best described with the words perfect absurdity. It has influenced a whole generation and will always remain a classic – due to its limited popularity abroad, at least in Austria. Almost every line of dialog has become a classic catchphrase. Many people in Austria know the movie by heart, because it’s getting quoted all the time.

The movie focuses on a family from a lower social level, the Neugebauers, in the center of a strange and wicked community, living in a notorious apartment estate in Vienna. Their part of town is satirically portrayed like one of the antechambers of hell – for Austrian standards – a socialistic community of concrete and locked doors, where everybody tries to seclude himself and his dark secrets from everyone else. No Walzer, no Mozart, no Viennese courtesy, no post-monarchistic postcard nostalgia and no hope. And just like at Christmas, at Mother’s Day private tensions erupt, inducing riot-like scenes in the community, in the supermarket, at church, at the gas station and in school – leading to a unique tour-de-force.

Alfred Dorfer, Andreas Nowak, Roland Düringer, Eva Billisich and Andrea Händler play various roles (together 24) and they all play them to perfection. This concept of using each actor for a couple of characters makes this film even a hide-and-seek-game for the audience.

This movie is a satirical portrait with some of the finest Austrian comedians and actors, that will offer a haunting, outlandish and desperate experience for non-Austrians and a mirror of the soul for the locals.