Swedish star Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus) transformed into Mother Teresa in Mother, a complex and “punk rock” take on the legendary Catholic saint and Albanian-Indian Catholic nun who made a name for herself as the founder of the Missionaries of Charity order serving “the poorest of the poor” and the sick.
Don’t expect a celebratory biopic from the movie, which world premieres on Wednesday in the Venice Film Festival‘s Horizons competition lineup! Venice promises “another powerful, unforgettable female portrait, made of ambiguity and determination” and “Mother Teresa as we’ve never seen her before.”
Directed by Macedonia’s Teona Strugar Mitevska (God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya), the cast of the movie, which the filmmaker wrote with Goce Smilevski and Elma Tataragićalso, also includes Sylvia Hoeks and Nikola Ristanovski.
The story is set in Kolkata, India in August 1948, following Teresa, Mother Superior of the convent of the Sisters of Loreto, over the course of seven pivotal days for her. She is “anxiously waiting for the letter that will finally allow her to leave her monastery and create a new order in response to the call she has received from God,” highlights a synopsis. “And just as everything seems ready, she finds herself faced with a dilemma that challenges her own ambitions and faith at a major turning point in her life” at the age of 37. Kinology is handling world sales.
“It has taken me 25 years exactly to arrive where I am today and make Mother, a film that fully represents me and who I want to be: bold, audacious, and free,” says Strugar Mitevska in a director’s statement. “As I have reached my freedom, I also offer her her own. Mother Teresa was a mother indeed, but to millions. She was strict, harsh, disciplinarian, yet motherly beyond our comprehension. Some of the dialogues in the film are direct transcriptions of the interviews I conducted with the last living sisters and witnesses to her character while I was making Teresa and I, a documentary I shot in Kolkata. Mother Teresa was born in Skopje. As an Albanian from Macedonia, she is a perfect example of the multiethnic diversity of my country and the all-embracing humanity within it. Mother Teresa is a controversial figure, and her stance on abortion in particular is a stumbling block in her trajectory, one that’s difficult to understand from today’s perspective, for some of us at least, while approved by many as well. We chose to tell her story before she became the Mother Teresa we know today.”
She adds: “I present this Mother almost as a CEO of a multinational company, relentless and ambitious. I judge her sainthood by her deeds and not by her saintly manners. Let’s celebrate women as they are, not just selfless martyrs or eternal victims, but as fully developed characters, as persons that can have other ambitions than becoming someone’s wife. She was far from perfect, but she was truly remarkable.”
Ahead of the world premiere of Mother, Rapace talked to THR about the film, the complexity of Mother Teresa and other humans, and why the star could only make the movie with Strugar Mitevska.
What a role for you! I am curious what interested you and taking on Mother Teresa as a character.
Obviously, I grew up hearing about Mother Teresa, this myth, and the saint. People would even say, “She’s no Mother Teresa.” It’s kind of a saying. So, I was familiar with the myth. I’ve also heard some negative things about her. But I didn’t really know anything about her. I grew up on a farm completely disconnected from church and from religion – sort of in a little bubble. So it was not familiar with her through the Catholic church or beliefs.
But Teona Strugar Mitevska came to me with the project, and I was familiar with Teona’s work. I was blown away by God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya. That is just such a powerful and mind-blowing film about being a woman in this world, and a woman going against men in a very strict religious, small community. And then in The Happiest Man in the World, she was investigating pain and the aftermath of a war, and what it is to be healing and to be a human under extreme circumstances. So I knew that Teona’s approach to character and to humanity is very complex and very brave.
So, it was a combination of bringing Mother Teresa to life through me and Teona. I can’t really imagine doing it with anyone else. So, then I started to dig and dive into a lot of research. I read a lot of books about her, some really praising her and talking about all the amazing things she did, and that she’s a saint, and God-sent. And then, there’s also quite a big amount of negativity about her, saying that she was no saint, and that she did a lot of things that were quite dark. So, I filled myself with a lot of information, and what I discovered was a very complex human with a lot of internal struggles. And I am fascinated by characters that have huge complexity.
Speaking of complexity: I went to a Catholic high school in Austria that Mother Teresa once visited while I was a pupil. And I recall that she drew a crowd, like a rock star. But the film shows her before that time and also highlights her strict side, not only requiring vows of chastity and poverty, but also obedience. And we see her opposition to abortion…
What really fascinated me about her is that she has a huge shadow over her soul. It’s like she was constantly struggling. “What are my reasons? Why am I doing this? Am I doing it for the poor or to be seen, to be the rock star coming to your Catholic Church and be admired, to get my ego boosted?” How much do you need witnesses for your good deeds? Or can you do good in the shadows and in the dark corners of the world with no one knowing about it?
I think it requires a certain sort of personality to reach the stardom and also the impact she had. Still today, millions of people are working within her organization worldwide. We were shooting in the school that she created in Kolkata. But she had this huge doubt. She was struggling for years. I read a lot of her letters, which may be the closest look at the inside of her and her thoughts. And she was really struggling with her faith for years. She said once: “If I ever become a saint, it would surely be one of darkness,” which really says a lot. She was operating on the sort of dark side of the world.
What was your experience on location in India like?
Coming to Kolkata and shooting in that part of India, for me, as a European, wealthy person who had lived a very protected life, was quite a shock for my entire system. Throughout the weeks we were filming, I felt that I was in this grinder, just melting and diluting into something. In the end, I was crying every day. I was so emotional. It was like my whole body and all my senses were wide open, and I wasn’t really sure what was Teresa and what was Noomi.
We were filming in the ghetto, where she was working and helping. So I kind of got the sense of what a complex character she was, because she was very hard, extremely hard on herself, but also very hard on other people, and with very, very strong beliefs. Also, in between, she had huge valleys of doubt and gaps in her belief, where she couldn’t hear God, when she couldn’t connect to him, and she was questioning herself and whether her motives were wrong. And she was punishing herself. She’s a very fascinating, powerful woman in a man’s world. We have to look at the ’40s and the Catholic Church in the ’40s. And like the Vatican today, it’s very male-heavy.
How important was this female, maybe even feminist, point of view for you?
Extremely important. I wish it were different. But I do think that women all over the world, even today, [lack rights and protections]. There are so many countries where girls won’t even be able to go to school. Women can’t drive in certain countries. Women don’t have voting rights. It’s shocking if you look at the news. Almost every political leader is a man. It’s so male-heavy. So, it [made sense] for me as a woman, growing up in a world that is run by men, men make the decisions, and women are taking a back seat. Teona told me she was carrying this story in her for 10 years or more. She kept saying to me: “I wasn’t ready for Teresa.” So when we went through this journey, Teona very much came in with a strong feminist approach.
The movie shows a woman, a nun, in the ’40s who did something extraordinary, but also very complex. For the audience, there’s no sex, there’s no violence, there’s no nudity. I mean, it’s about nuns in the 1940s. It’s not very sexy, but it’s definitely a feminist film. Also, most of the team were females. We had an amazing, extraordinary female DOP [Virginie Saint Martin]. One of the main producers is Teona’s sister, Labina Mitevska, who’s an amazing human. It was this really powerful group of women bringing this film to life, which I’m so, so proud to have been a part of.
You have described your portrayal of Mother Teresa in the movie as a punk rock take. Can you elaborate on that?
I love that she wrote to the whole Catholic Church monthly for years, begging them, asking them, harassing them to get the permission to start her own mission. I mean, she’s so stubborn and determined. She kept believing and kept fighting. We have to remember that even today, but back then even more so, nuns were kept behind walls. And she kept fighting to get permission to be able to leave and start her own thing. That’s completely punk rock, rebellious.
Teona Strugar Mitevska
David Zorrakino/Europa Press/Getty Images
She was up against an army of men who would say, “No, women don’t do that. Women need to be inside. Women are fragile.” Or women are this, and women are that. I can relate to that thinking outside the box. Just because no one has done it before doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. But I could also hear a lot of loneliness in her and within her. I think she was suffering a lot from that and feeling very isolated. And she was not sharing responsibilities, really. She was the driving force, and then she became this kind of rock star and very famous celebrity, which she said that she never wanted. She was kind of shy, and a lot of people were saying that she didn’t want the spotlight. But she’s been photographed with a lot of big political leaders and Princess Di.
I find that really interesting, because that’s something that I know myself. I love my work, I love being an actress. I find it a bit hard to do the whole celebrity thing, but it’s also needed, and also, there’s some nice sugar in it. So it’s like two sides [of the medal], and it’s not really that simple.
Speaking of things not being simple: There is a scene in the film where you, as Mother Teresa, get very upset with Sister Agnieszka, portrayed by Sylvia Hoeks. I found it difficult to watch Mother Teresa getting so angry.
I completely agree. Agnieszka has been with a man, and you can understand that that’s something Mother Teresa has been thinking about a lot. What a betrayal it is for her! It’s like: “You betray me, you betray the church, you betray Jesus.” How aggressive and strong her reaction is is out of proportion, but you can also understand that she has sacrificed. Like every human being, she has a body. And she’s constantly like: “I belong to Jesus. I’m married to Jesus.” But she’s a human at the end of the day. And no humans are perfect. I think that was the strongest drive for me to investigate and try to sneak under the skin of this human and fill myself with information, but then let go of everything. So, the Teresa you see on screen is me and Teresa sort of merged into one. It’s a fantasy about her.
Did the script change much during the creative process for the film?
The script was quite different when I came on board. It was like dough that we were baking and pulling and taking things out of. We were really investigating what she was for us and also what motherhood means, and what it is to take care of others and to sacrifice yourself. So we really tried to find the pain, the internal pain, the struggles in her, the doubt, and also what you have to leave behind. For example, she hasn’t seen her family for years and years. She’s not talking to her mom. I think it’s like for any careerist that you realize all of a sudden, “Oh my god, I have not spoken to my mom or my grandma.” It’s about what your priorities are.
You mentioned Mother Teresa’s pain. How did you feel that?
The deeper we went into her, I could feel it. We were shooting nights in Kolkata, and I came back and my feet were so tired. I was walking in the real sandals. They kind of made a replica of the sandals she wore. My feet were so sore. And in some of the scenes, there were people with leprosy. We shot them, and these are not actors. So everything in that real world hasn’t really changed, sadly enough, since the ’40s. It looks very much the same, but I could feel how my body just took everything in.
And then you compare that [experience] to the wealth of the world. When I came back to London, I had two weeks when I was completely lost. I was walking around my house, just crying and being super emotional. And on the news, it was that Donald Trump just won [the election] in the U.S. And I was like, “This world is so surreal. How can some people have so much?” And you see Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and all these extremely wealthy men. There are no women, and then you have the streets with the poorest of the poor. It was just that somehow the ghost or the saint or the angel or the demon of Teresa was really staying in my system for a very long time and shining a light on things. And I could feel my perspectives, and I could see myself in a different light: how spoiled I am and how much I complain about things that are not even worth talking about. So, it was a life-changing experience for many reasons.
Did you and the team working on Mother ever think about what church representatives might say? Did you guys ever worry about possible criticism?
We don’t know. We never know. But I feel that just making a film about someone in itself is a tribute. Not making a film that just praises someone and [turns] a blind eye. Making a film about someone and investigating a human being is a love message to the world. For me, everyone, every human being, has bad sides and good sides. None of us is perfect. There are no saints. There are human beings doing things. And maybe for two years, you do things that are amazing and really good for people. And then you have a bad year when you get egocentric.
We’re premiering the film in Venice, in Italy, so the Vatican is right there. It’s going to be very interesting to see. And I hope we don’t offend anyone. When I did The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I was terrified because the books were loved by so many people around the world that I thought I could only fail. I always have a bit of that. But I can’t really think too much about where it’s going to land. At the end of the day, we can’t think about that, because then we are in an emotional prison. So, I always try not to consider so much where things are going to land and just give it everything and then brace for impact.
You see all these Instagram people who are so retouched. Young girls today grow up watching celebrities, and it’s not what they really look like; it’s not what they sound like. Nothing is perfect. None of us is perfect. That is liberating.
Is there anything else you would like to highlight?
Yeah. When I first saw the film, I was actually shocked to realize that I hadn’t seen a movie that was directed by a woman with a female lead, where no one takes their clothes off, there’s no violence, there’s no nudity. I couldn’t remember seeing a film like that.
If you look at Cannes over the last few years, you had The Substance, you had Anora, you had Titane, all directed by women and/or having female leads. But there’s always sex, there’s always violence. And we had Conclave, with men dressed in these big capes and priests, bishops all covered up, but it’s all men. So I was thinking about the uniqueness of this film and how rare it is that a movie doesn’t contain any sex or nudity, if it’s all women. You know, even if it’s a badass woman, they get raped and then they fucking fight back. It’s quite shocking that women today are always semi-naked or going through some violence. Even if it’s a badass woman, you know, they get raped and then they fucking fight back. It’s something I’ve been really reflecting on.