Lioness
A mother and her teenage daughter’s volatile relationship plunges deeper when the daughter makes new friends. In this powerful Estonian thriller, motherly love is both tender and dark.
This film is for anyone who has ever doubted a mother’s love. Lioness unveils the complex ties that bind children to their parents. The viewer plunges into the harsh reality of a dysfunctional family, led by a cold and distant mother.
Helena struggles to express love, and her relationship with her teenage daughter Stefi is marked by conflict, fear, and anger. Stefi skips school and spends her nights outside, while Helena’s worriy impacts the whole family dynamic. None of Lioness’ characters are simply good or bad—they are human, grappling with teenage mistakes, parental doubts, and the shadow cast by a sibling’s reckless choices.
When Stefi falls into drugs and is pressured by her dodgy friends, we witness the whole family descending into the abyss with her. Eventually, her drug abuse leads her to a stay in the hospital. Her manipulative friends exploit their hold over her, blackmailing her parents with sex tapes and tormenting the entire family. Helena has no choice but to make an extreme choice to save her daughter’s future.
Lioness confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: love is rarely perfect or gentle, but it is always raw, flawed, and fiercely real.
Claire Delhom
Trailer
Collaboration
