'Dying For A Daughter' Review: Lifetime's movie is a grisly tale of a mother's vengeance
A mother manifests a protective, nurturing, and deeply loving personality in our lives. However, what would it be if a mother gets too fixated by the idea of motherhood that she can turn brutal! Lifetime's movie 'Dying For A Daughter' portrays an abhorrent mother that sets off to take revenge for a past that robbed her of her daughter. The movie shall subvert the idea of all-embracing motherhood by depicting a malevolent woman who gets obsessed with her master’s daughter.
Samantha’s(Melanie Nelson’s) life is turned upside down after a terrifying car accident leaves her 10-year-old daughter Cassie (Scarlett Roselynn) severely injured. The viewer learns that Samantha aka Sam is already struggling to balance her demanding work life with her crumbling marriage to Cassie’s father, Tom( Brandon Ray Olive). Now after Cassie suffers from multiple fractures, Samantha hires a live-in-nurse Margaret(Brittany Underwood) to help her daughter recover. However, none in Sam’s family knows about the agonizing past of Margaret where she is embittered over the loss of her own child. The viewer learns that Margaret had been a young mother who had to give her child away in return for monetary help. Now, after seeing Cassie, Margaret is reminded of her past where she rebukes the painful circumstances that left her childless. She gets obsessed with Cassie and embarks on a mission of vengeance against Samantha and Tom to get back the daughter she thinks is hers.
While the movie has a straightforward plot, it does provide some suspense. The viewer is eager to know if Margaret is really Cassie’s real mother given that she is an adopted child of Sam and Tom. One is on tenterhooks to know if Sam’s colleague Karen (Karina Segura) knows anything about Margaret’s past and her surreptitious demeanor.
Further, there is a mystery around Tom and Sam’s past. There are hints that indicate that their relationship is deteriorating due to trust issues. But is it because Tom had an affair in the past? That we will leave for you to find.
The cast of the film has done a commendable job. Melanie Nelson has convincingly portrayed a caring mother and a forbearing wife. She essays a person who has grappled in her marriage due to trust issues but at the same time binds the family with love, even if it means taking antidepressants. She has played an array of shades in the film - from a mother overcome with remorse on being at the brink of causing a life-threatening accident, to being discerning as a master who hires a nurse, to playing a thrilling protagonist that ensues some action-packed scenes in the climax, she has grabbed the spotlight.
On the other front, Lifetime has excelled in bringing out antagonists with whom one can empathize, even if it is for a brief moment. Brittany Underwood’s character exemplifies that. Her role modulates between a seductress, maniac, and obsessive woman to being an impuissant childless mother, whom we can both understand and loath. Her horrid antics make the plot all the more interesting as we see her giving wrong medicines, creating a divide in Sam's family to being lusty, murderous, and ultimately justifying the film's title. On a whole, the movie’s fast-paced plot embedded with mystifying snippets, excellent cast, abominable conduct, and edgy screenplay makes it worth a watch.
The movie will release at 7 pm on November 7, 2020, on Lifetime Movie Network.
