In Bernadette Mayer’s first feature, a mother loses her sight because of diabetes complications as her adult son prepares to become a father. A 24.hu review frames the story around the growing care burden facing young families.
The review opens with the state of Hungarian cinema. So few films were made in 2025 that the critic says they had to be gathered up “with a rake.” The writer describes the current period as transitional and says Hungary is still waiting for a fairer system of state support that takes artistic merit into account.
Caregiving is a theme in several of the few new films. Mommy Blue is director Bernadette Mayer’s feature debut. It centers on Krisztina, a high-school art history teacher who loses her sight after complications from diabetes. Her son Máté, who is around 30, has to care for his divorced, single mother.
Máté and his wife, Eszter, are expecting a baby. In the review’s account, the child’s arrival roughly coincides with the last time Krisztina can see. The young couple therefore face two responsibilities at once: caring for their infant and supporting a mother who has lost her independence earlier than expected.
The review asks what it says about society when adult children care for their parents while raising young children of their own. The writer stresses that the film does not become a bleak story of a family defined by suffering.