Mommy weirdest

>> Rebecca De Mornay plays the mother
figure from hell in the bizarre American Venus

by MATTHEW HAYS

There are certain actors who are marked by one specific film for their entire career. Despite his fantastic ability, for example, Anthony Perkins was always thought of as the nervous cross-dressing slasher from Psycho. In Rebecca De Mornay’s case, it seems she’s destined to be remembered for her turn as a homicidal, vengeful nanny in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), arguably one of the most predictable screenplays ever to be computer-generated.

With his latest film, American Venus, it is as though Vancouver-based filmmaker Bruce Sweeney has taken the De Mornay persona and given her children of her own. Now a totally crazy mama, she’s furious when her perfect daughter (Jane McGregor) opts out of competing at figure skating. This means De Mornay is both a spurned coach and mother, and then, her daughter does something so horrifying, so inexcusable, she must be stopped: she decides to move to Canada!

After some seriously abusive, manipulative tactics are unleashed, McGregor sensibly leaves in the middle of the night. But De Mornay tracks her down, stalking her throughout Vancouver. Just to keep the American thing at the fore of everyone’s mind, it turns out that De Mornay has a twisted gun fixation, and since they confiscated her handgun at the border (dang those commie Canadians!), much of the film is taken up with her trying to get one illegally. She questions a cabbie, hits up some crack addicts (a brilliant idea), but then strikes gold: she picks up a cop in a hotel bar.

This tryst leads to one of the most hilarious big-screen moments in recent memory: the two go to a shooting range—after hours, so it’s deserted—and De Mornay finds exhilaration firing off a round. The camera pulls back to reveal that the cop has his head up her skirt and is performing cunnilingus as she’s blasting away. You go girl!

There’s something really, really strange about American Venus. It’s trying to say something profound, but ultimately, it’s about as shallow as The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Another odd moment in Canadian film history.

American Venus opens
this Friday, Nov. 2

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