Article by Francesca Strangis

Translation by Federica Lozito

What would one sacrifice for a few crumbs of love after a lifetime of starvation? Perhaps even one’s own freedom. Madame Ida investigates the consequences of lack of love through a tale steeped in tragedy and rich with symbolism.

Cecilia, a 15-year-old orphan, finds herself pregnant and is sent to live with Ida, who plans to adopt her future child and who lives isolated from the world together with her maid, Alma. Three women, three generations, a precarious balance. The house acts as a metaphysical place, reflecting these women’s inner existence, sometimes bright and welcoming, other times dark and uninviting.

By composing static shots, director Jacob Møller creates paintings with Caravaggesque light that evokes the lights and shadows of the relationships between the protagonists, and he insistently places the characters within frames made of doors, windows, and mirrors. This kind of staging is a clue for the viewer: like Ida’s bird, the women are also prisoners of a gilded cage. Only when Cecilia loses herself in the illusion that she has finally found in Ida that maternal love she has always longed for, does the camera seem to rebel against its static confines and run free, following the women as they engage in their games and dances. In his first feature film, Møller stylistically dares, to create a universal story of death and rebirth that critically faces the theme of motherhood.

Being a mother is a gift, a responsibility, sometimes even a condemnation – and the viewer oscillates, thanks in part to the tormented performances of the lead actresses, between compassion and contempt.