You Are Not My Mother

You Are Not My Mother is a 2021 Irish psychological horror film, the first feature directed by Kate Dolan. It stars Hazel Doupe as Char, a teenager caught between her grandmother Rita (Ingrid Craigie) and her mother Angela (Carolyn Bracken). After Angela vanishes briefly and then returns with a completely different personality, Char grows increasingly unsettled. The movie debuted in the Midnight Madness section of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, where it earned first runner-up for the People’s Choice Award: Midnight Madness.

The story opens with a flashback: Rita takes her infant granddaughter Char into the woods, lights a ring of fire around the baby, and watches her scream. In the present, teenage Char lives with her depressed mother and ailing grandmother in a strained household. Char attends a Catholic girls’ school, where she is bullied despite being a strong student. One morning, Angela tells Char she “can’t do this anymore,” then abandons her car. When Angela returns a few days later, she is cheerful, energetic, and cooking—but Rita is suspicious. Rita deliberately spills the soup Angela made, and the family eats chips instead. Angela barely eats and stares sullenly at her mother.

Char witnesses increasingly strange behavior from the new Angela. Her uncle Aaron is poisoned by Angela and hospitalized. Meanwhile, Char befriends a former bully, Suzanne, who confides about her own mother’s death. Rita then reveals that when Char was a baby, she was swapped with a changeling; the fire ritual brought the real Char back, leaving a small burn scar. Rita insists the new Angela is also a changeling and wants to repeat the ritual. Char initially agrees but, horrified to find Angela bound and gagged, frees her—only to realize Rita was right. The changeling kills Rita. Char flees but is cornered by bullies who force her into an unlit Halloween bonfire. The changeling Angela approaches, and Char sets the bonfire alight, burning the changeling while Suzanne rescues her. In the final scene, Angela is restored to her true self, and Char gives her a lucky token of twigs, as her grandmother once did for her.

The cast includes Hazel Doupe as Char, Lucie Doran as young Char, Carolyn Bracken as Angela, Paul Reid as Aaron, Ingrid Craigie as Rita, Jordanne Jones as Suzanne, and others. On Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 77 critics gave positive reviews, with an aver