《成為母親的我們》:母性失格？──「我們」之所以為母親｜“Maternal”: Failing as a Mom? —What It Means to Be a Mother
《過去以紀錄片拍攝為主的莫拉•德佩洛(Maura Delpero)，其執導的第一部劇情長片《成為母親的我們》（Maternal）講述提供未婚媽媽庇護的天主教修道院裡，一對性格大相逕庭，並各自育有孩子的閨蜜，奔放不拘、不甘受教條束縛的露 (Agustina Malale飾)；拘謹壓抑、相對逆來順受的法蒂瑪(Denise Carriz飾)，以及從義大利遠赴阿根廷的新進修女寶拉（Lidiya Liberman飾）。面臨生活及價值觀的巨大落差，被「孩子」圍繞的三人如何掙扎於身分、責任及自我歸屬的焦慮衝突？本部獲得2019年盧卡諾影展國際競賽特別提及、天主教人道精神獎，與2019年歐洲電影獎最佳歐洲電影獎等殊榮，除了承襲莫拉•德佩洛對社會議題一貫的關注以及生活感的視角，受文學影響極深的她在影像美學上更別具洞見，精巧且含蓄的平衡構圖，畫面上的穩定淡雅對比檯面下的情感矛盾，使兩者之間產生了強大的戲劇張力
◎何以為家？
母性（Maternal instinct）不論在中文或英文的脈絡裡，其定義都指向母親愛護子女的天性，但兩者都未能明確說明其表現的內涵，而僅僅歸納於和生育密切關聯的女性本能。有意思的是《成為母親的我們》比起英文片名Maternal所指涉的母親、母性，西班牙文的Hogar所代表的「家」似乎中和了歷來母愛與女性無可避免的連結性，而能更廣泛地探問：何處是家？何以為家？
片中出現許多關於家的討論，然而從露、法蒂瑪兩位少女在天台上聊著修道院是否為家以及日後與誰成家之辯，到孩子們訴說、描繪「模範家庭」的想像，對這些被擠壓於社會邊緣的單親媽媽及幼童而言，家向來都是相對飄渺甚至毫無共識的：遭強暴產子的法蒂瑪顯然無法完整回應兒子的依附需求；任性自我的露選擇不告而別、向外求愛，於是一支不合時宜的口紅、一粒固定在床角的氣球，成了她留給幼女妮娜的補償／臨別禮。失職的母親、不起作用的母性向來是社會大眾的焦慮所在，這是一個缺失父親角色的家，也是一個年輕媽媽們得再三被檢視合格與否的家。
◎禁果的內涵
以幾位年長修女為首的修道院固然頗有保守、潔身自愛的威儀，但偶爾仍默許了挺「人性化」的娛樂，於是穿著清涼熱褲的少女們大開派對、在紫光四射的「舞池」裡扭腰擺臀，修女們則坐在門外的椅子上打盹等候，兩造鮮明成了逗趣的場面，此時鏡頭頻頻帶到電視機裡正在播放的動畫影片：亞當和夏娃偷嚐禁果。作為一部幾乎屏蔽男性存在的電影，它顛覆了禁果以往象徵的男女情慾，亦預示了日後寶拉修女「充當母職」的逾矩。當露離開修道院後，最有「餘裕」照顧妮娜的人，自然落到年輕又耐心溫柔的寶拉修女身上，她能親暱地將孩子攬入懷中、在睡前柔聲講述醜小鴨的故事，甚至是安撫先前因沮喪把圖畫撕毀的妮娜，再陪她把紙張拼黏回去。當觀眾為了妮娜的生活福祉著急時，寶拉修女成了撫平此焦慮的存在，她與妮娜的溫馨互動極盡純淨美好，完全展現了「作為一名母親」的天賦與意願。
然而但凡對天主教信仰有點了解的人，多少都知道修女在發永願、獻身於上帝後，同時也宣告了現世的獨身生活，她們被期待以普世性的關愛去照拂他人，至於自我對於母職的渴望則只能硬生閹割。於是寶拉修女之於妮娜彷彿踩在一條禁忌的線上，與妮娜同睡的每個夜晚變成偷偷摸摸的行動，黑暗中沿著牆緣移動的白色背影、幾處帶有窺視意味的長鏡頭（long shot）目睹了她雙手抱著妮娜在廊道上匆忙穿梭，以及光天化日下年長修女們在窗邊心照不宣的目光，都讓本部的基調愈發壓抑。
◎以「我們」作為母親角色的感召
本以為一去不返的露最終「浪子回頭」似乎是迫使寶拉修女做出抉擇的推力，露做為眾人眼中不負責任的失格母親，不論是妮娜見到她時的愣神、意識到有人取代其母職的憤怒，再到他人不見待己的挫折，都無可避免地讓劇情導向「兩位母親」的對峙。當露憤而扯下寶拉修女的頭巾時，嚇得她倒抽一口氣，然而彼此爭端的高峰便在此停止，沒有過多女人為難女人的情節，更沒有發展成激烈的爭奪戰，尾聲一幕裁定露要離開修道院收容所的決定，讓兩人同時心碎絕望，對寶拉修女而言這是與妮娜永遠的別離，而對露來說沒有什麼比帶著女兒離開賴以維生之地還要更恐慌的了。
分離的迫近讓寶拉修女索性把頭巾卸下，當她抱著熟睡的妮娜上街時，長髮飄逸的她似是「還俗」般與常人無異，觀眾此時才發現原來修道院的鐵柵門之外離「凡間」是如此接近，但這從來不意味離開、獨自生活的容易，何況她與妮娜間缺乏的正當性也不足以支撐現實生活。坐在台階上流連許久的寶拉修女，最終還是將妮娜帶回修道院還予生母，露知情後並沒有責難她「偷了自己的孩子」，反而說：「她可以一直睡、一直睡，因為她不喜歡午睡。可以幫我抱著她嗎？這樣比較好。」兩位傷痕累累的「母親」都不再堅稱對孩子的所有權，選擇在最後將彼此的權利各自讓渡。
以個人為出發、「身為母親的我」為起手，往往是女性在艱困社會處境下犧牲奉獻的悲劇；然而「成為母親的我們」卻是排除本質論述且協調溝通的。《成為母親的我們》以「我們」作為感召，將關注從夠不夠格成為母親，拉回女性作為母親的集體困境，同時延展對母親／母性討論更多的可能與寬容，於當今眾聲喧嘩的時代氛圍下，毫無疑問是一項溫柔且堅定的策略。
With her main exploration in documentary world, the director Maura Delpero made her first narrative feature, Maternal (2019), which follows the juxtaposition and clash of three characters: Luci (Agustina Malale) who is disruptive and rebellious, Fatima (Denise Carriz) who is reserved and repressed, and Sister Paola (Lidiya Liberman) who is a nun, just arriving Buenos Aires from Italy to take her final vows. Luci and Fatima are close friends, each having a child, and living under the roof of a convent-run shelter for single mothers. Maternal presents a paradoxical world where three people struggle for an anxious conflict between identity issues, responsibilities, and a sense of belonging. The film is nominated for an International Competition: Special Mention in Locarno International Film Festival and Best European film in Europa Cinemas Label in 2019. Mixing starkly composed formalism with her literature background and unique sense of composition in cinematography, Delpero's film most surprisingly risks a full lunge into melodrama with more organic, observational material of daily routines. That's a tricky range of registers and tension to balance, but Maternal mostly does so with sensitivity and fluid authenticity.
◎Where is Hogar?
People are bombarded with the idea that maternal instinct is something all women possess. It's expected that women have some sort of instinctive desire to love their children and know how to take care of them. However, the idea of maternal instinct which, both in Mandarin and in English, implies that there is an innate knowledge of becoming and being a mother cannot fully make us understand motherhood. What's interesting is that the film in Spanish is called Hogar, which means “a place you feel at home.” The maternity is therefore linked to the concept of “home” which seems to be a scenario that raises age-old questions over maternal rights and responsibilities that motherhood and women cannot be separated from. There are many discussions about what a home is in the film. As we see Lu and Fatima debate over whether the convent is a home for them and whom they will marry to, we also see how children in the film imagine about home through drawing. To those who live a marginalized life, single mothers and kids living in deprivation alike, the concept of “home” is always unreachable and abstract: being raped and forced to give birth to her son, Fatima is unable to become an attachment figure for her son; with a reckless heart, Luci sneaks out and goes AWOL to go after love, leaving a lipstick as a gift which shouldn't be given to a child at such small age and a balloon stuck to the bed for her daughter, Nina. A mom who refuses to engage in attachment relationships with her children is always linked to the anxiety of existence of dysfunctional families that the society always associates them with. Therefore, whether families with young moms can become a legit “home” for children depends on fathers’ presence.
◎The Meaning of the Forbidden Fruit
Although the sanctuary is full of stately austerity that is run by elder nuns, some worldly entertainment is still permitted in the Hogar. In one scene girls are doing disco dance, the shots follow closely with girls rubbing against one another on the dance floor which is filled with dazzling flashing lights. The contrast is conspicuously and cleverly established when the camera cuts to those elder nuns sitting at the front door, nodding off and waiting for its end. Then, the camera swiftly crosscuts between the disco scene and children's cartoon depicting Eve's temptation of Adam on VHS. As a film that shows no male figure, the cartoon's intrusion transforms the forbidden fruit, which is a symbol for the lust for sexuality between males and females, into a substitute of caretakers which also portends a future of Paola's crossing the line for Nina as a mother. When Luci suddenly goes AWOL from the hogar, Paola's playful bond with Nina escalates into quasi-guardianship— she can gently hold Nina in her arms, telling her the story of “The Ugly Duckling,” even piecing together the painting which was torn by Nina because of her disappointment. Sister Paola seems to become the existence for soothing the audience's anxiety for Nina not being taken care of. She perfectly embodies the nature and willingness of being a mother with her pure and unconditional love for Nina. It's known that Sisters and Mothers who devote themselves to God are expected to love everyone equally and remain cloistered; however, the natural calling for maternity as a woman is forced to be eliminated when taking religious vows. Sister Paola is walking on thin ice as she proceeds to follow her falling for Nina—every night, she sneaks to sleep side by side with her. There's a shot of her in a white robe moving along the wall in a sneaky way in the dark; there's also another long take witnessing Sister Paola holding Nina in her arms, rushing through the long hallway; all other Sisters see what Sister Paola is doing under the sun, understanding without expressing directly. Those examples all set a repressed tone for the film.
◎ Develop Maternity Collectively
What brings Sister Paola to a situation of making a decisive move is Lu's unexpected return to the hogar. As we see Lu being treated as a disqualified mother, see her being furious about how her role as a mother has been replaced by Sister Paola and frustrated in people in hogar avoiding her and Nina looking at her in complete blankness, the tension between these “two moms” is reaching to a climax. When Lu angrily takes Sister Paola’s habit off, she is shocked by what she sees. That's also where all the quarrels and disputes climax and stop as the two women are freed from nervous tensions between them. When the nuns of the convent come to a decision which determines Lu’s leave, it turns out to be the most devastating thing for both of Paola and Lu. For Sister Paola, it means to be forever parted with Nina. For Lu, it means to leave where she used to depend on and be familiar with, and be faced with an unknown future as a single mom with a daughter. As time of being separated from Nina is ticking, Sister Paola takes off her white habit and holds sound asleep Nina to the street, wandering. With her long hair trailing behind, she looks more like an ordinary woman than a nun. As the action of walking outside the convent takes place, the audience now can see how short the distance between the barred door of this institute and the outside world is. However, it doesn't mean that leaving the convent and living on her own is easy. Moreover, the relationship between Sister Paola and Nina which lacks legitimacy can never make them survive in the real world. After lingering on the stairway on the street, Paola finally takes Nina back to her real mon, Lu. Seeing them come back, instead of blaming the Sister’s act of “stealing of her child,” she says, “let her sleep, because she doesn’t like to take a siesta. Could you hold her for me? It'd be better.” These two “moms” choose not to fight for being Nina’s guardian, and finally reconciled with each other.
The film portrays maternity from different individuals’ points of view-- it raises age-old questions over maternal rights and responsibilities which are always entangled with women's poor situation in society. Yet, Delpero's script never feels didactic; instead, she refuses to reduce the complexity of people's age-old take on maternity and portrays it from multiple points of view. Maternal provides a variety of maternities for us to shift our focus from “imperfect mothers” to kinds of dilemma that a mother would face, suggesting that we need to look at the context in which maternity exists and the way that it is shaped. Under Delpero's humanistic gaze, every has their reasons – a stance very welcome is a real world of such acrid dogmatism.