“Goodnight Mommy” is a 2022 thriller movie and a remake of the 2014 Austrian movie of the same name. The movie revolves around the lives of twin brothers Elias and Lukas. Their parents have separated, and currently, the twins are spending their vacation with their mother. But things are not as they appear to be because their mother has completely changed. Her face is covered up with a facial bandage as she is going through cosmetic surgery to change the current state of her life for a fresh start. Naturally, the twin brothers are expecting their mother to be as loving and caring as she used to be. But now, she is completely the opposite. The twins’ mother doesn’t pay much attention to their actions and even puts them to sleep without the usual goodnight lullaby. Both the children are very upset about the current situation that their family is going through as each one of them is struggling to gain control over their minds.
Elias and Lukas are always together, and they are both pretty scared about their mother’s sudden change. Elias wants to gain more knowledge about this change since he secretly caught her smoking and dancing to loud music. As per his perspective, their mother was never interested in such things, as she was completely against smoking. But for some reason, she is now different from before. Well, both of them are confused by her sudden rift, as their mother is very ignorant and rude towards Lukas. Elias begins to conclude that she wants Lukas to be out of their lives, and both of them want to find out who is behind the mask. They believe that their mother has been abducted by the person who is now pretending to be her. Moreover, in the beginning, Elias wanted his father to visit, but now he has made it clear that their mother would not like his interference for the time being. Moreover, they are shocked to know that their father was not aware of her cosmetic surgery either.
Elias decides to sneak up on her while she is relaxing in her bath and there, he spots her with a face mask, so he decides to remove it. And guess what? Beneath the mask, his mother has black skin. Elias’ mother snaps and holds him tightly, demanding an answer for his action. But Elias hits her head and manages to escape. The twins decide to lock the door, but she breaks the door handle and steps inside the room. Because of this incident, Elias and his mother get into a huge argument where she hits him, and this disturbs him a lot. At this point, Elias is sure that this person cannot be their mother, as she would never lay hands on him. But as “Goodnight Mommy” progresses, Elias becomes aware that something’s wrong with Lukas’ personality. From the beginning, he tries his best to separate Elias from his mother. In this process, the twins end up tying her hands to the bed.
But Elias manages to understand the consequences and sets her free. But this doesn’t sit well with Lukas as he tries to hold him back, but Elias’ mother takes him to the restricted barn, which has several memories connected to it. Here, viewers will be shocked to learn that Lukas is dead. The twins were playing with a loaded gun when Elias ended up shooting his brother. Well, this incident disrupts his mind, and Lukas’ death was the main reason behind his parents’ separation. All this time, Elias’ delusions were taking a huge toll on his mental health. As an imaginary friend, Lukas was making him do unimaginable things. To face his fears, Elias’ mother shows him Lukas’ blood-stained shirt, and this reality hurts him. Elias gives up control over his actions and pushes her down. This, in turn, ends up in her death, and the lantern burns down the whole barn. “Goodnight Mommy” ends on a sad note, as we understand that Elias is responsible for Lukas’ death. Even though he knew the truth, Elias’ mind couldn’t accept this incident, which enabled him to create an imaginary Lukas.
There was a huge communication gap between Elias and his parents. The lack of communication caused him to hold on to Lukas’ death, and soon he created different sides of this reality. Meanwhile, Elias’ mother was a famous personality, but all the family problems separated her from the real world, causing her to delve into darkness and depression. But in this process, both the parents failed to look after Elias, and this created massive abandonment issues in his mind. Both brothers have been together for a very long time, and they’d always promised to be with each other. And guess what? If you look closely, nobody speaks to Lukas, and that itself creates a huge doubt about Lukas’ existence. In the beginning, his parents decided to pretend as well, but with time, everything became very suffocating. At one point, Elias had to face a monster who was dressed up like his mother. But in reality, the monster represented his inner fears.
See More: What Went Wrong Between Elias And His Mother In The Film ‘Goodnight Mommy’?
