Michael Kenworthy | 80's Movie Guide

Night Mother movie storyline. What would you do if someone you loved sat down with you one night and calmly told you that they were going to end their life before morning? This is Thelma Cates' dilemma. Her daughter, Jessie, has had it. A middle-aged epileptic unable to hold a job or drive with a failed marriage and a drug-addicted runaway son on the wrong side of the law, Jessie can find no reason to go on living. Adapted from the play by Marsha Norman, "'night, Mother" is the story of a parent's worst nightmare. How can Thelma convince her daughter that life is worth living if she can't feel her pain? How can she end her daughter's embrace of death before morning? 'night, Mother is a 1986 American drama film starring Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft. It was directed by Tom Moore and written by Marsha Norman based on her Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. The film was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival. Tom Moore had also directed the play on Broadway. The film was given its first-ever U.S. DVD release by Universal Studios on August 3, 2010. The film received mixed reviews and was not nominated for any Academy Awards, although Bancroft was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. Spacek was nominated for the Academy Award that year for Crimes of the Heart, another film adaptation of a play, released the same year. 'Night Mother (1986) Directed by: Tom Moore Starring: Sissy Spacek, Anne Bancroft, Ed Berke, Carol Robbins, Jennifer Roosendahl, Michael Kenworthy, Sari Walker, Claire Malis Screenplay by: Marsha Norman Production Design by: Jackson De Govia Cinematography by: Stephen M. Katz Film Editing by: Suzanne Pettit Costume Design by: Robert Blackman Set Decoration by: Bonnie Dermer Music by: David Shire Distributed by: Universal Pictures Release Date: September 12, 1986