Remember me, Mommy? (2020 Lifetime)
Cast: Natalie Brown, Kristopher Turner, Sydney Meyer
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Rebecca, a respected teacher at a private girls school, has her life turned upside down when a new scholarship student arrives who might be the daughter she gave up for adoption seventeen years ago.
Thoughts
The movie starts with a hooded figure with a flashlight going through files.
Cut to a boarding school, Clark Academy, with rich, popular girls talking about their summer vacations. Rebecca is a creative writing teacher, and she checks in with all the parents and assures them their daughters will have the best the school can offer,
Some bitchy popular girls welcome a new girl in school named Elena. Jany and her friends give Elena a box of chocolate with worms in it. Rebecca witnesses the whole thing and tells Elena that just because she is a scholarship student doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve to be a student at the school.
Rebecca has a co-worker friend named Marie and a boyfriend named Jason. Rebecca isn’t the only one making friends; Elena befriends her roommate named Grace. Grace isn’t bothered by the popular girls and is a breath of fresh air. She doesn’t stand for their crap.
Elena isn’t the only one being bullied, Rebecca gets her tires on her car slashed, and “bitch” is spraypainted all over the vehicle. Jany’s ID is also left by the car. When Jany is called into the headmaster’s office, she is given a warning. Rebecca seems to think it is because Jany’s mom is a significant donor to the school. Jany accuses Elena of setting her up. Elena threatens the popular girl and warns her to stay away or ELSE.
Upset and confused, Elena visits Rebecca. She opens up about being a foster child and not feeling like she has ever had a home. While Rebecca makes some tea, Elena looks through old photo albums and gets upset even more. She abruptly leaves and heads back to her dorm, where she gets in an argument with Grace.
Grace leaves the dorm and comes back to sleep. As she is sleeping, Elena takes pictures of her like a creepy person. (At least turn off your camera sound, ya psycho!) The next morning Elena apologizes to Grace. Grace reluctantly accepts her apology, but she is freaked out. She does a quick online search for Elena’s real name (which she saw on her state ID.) Grace finds articles about a car accident and poisoning.
Grace moves out of Elena’s room because she wants a fresh start. When Elena confronts Grace, she is surprised to hear about the research Grace has been doing on “Claire Bigelow.” While Grace showers, Elena looks through the search history on her laptop. Then Elena goes into the shower and breaks Grace’s neck violently. It is made to look like Grace slipped in the shower. Poor Grace. RIP. (A necklace is found with the body.)
The school continues as usual. Elena has other plans and skips looking at colleges for planting pictures in Rebecca’s boyfriend Jason’s room. He also has accusations of inappropriate behavior. The police are contacted, and Jason is put in jail until a hearing date. Rebecca also gets placed on a leave of absence by the headmistress due to her relationship with Jason.
Jany finds Rebecca and admits that she noticed Grace being afraid of Elena. Jany also shares that Grace had warned her to stay away from Elena because she is dangerous. Rebecca thanks Jany for telling the truth and realizes that she wasn’t responsible for vandalizing her car. Rebecca also gets a call from a college recruiter to tell her that Elena plagiarized her creative writing essay. Rebecca is gaining clarity on who the real enemy might be as she caresses the necklace found with Grace’s body.
Rebecca leaves town and goes to a pawnshop to see if the necklace was stolen. The pawnshop owner confirms that the necklace was stolen. He gives Rebecca the address of the woman who was looking for it and goes to her house, armed with a picture of Elena. The woman is thrilled to see her prized necklace and less thrilled to see the picture of Elena. Wouldn’t you know Elena isn’t actually who she says she is. She is Claire Bigelow!!!! The woman says that Elena/Claire found her foster dad dead. He slipped in the bathroom while shaving. Coincidence?!?!?! I think not.
Neither does Rebecca, who online searches “Claire Bigelow” and finds all the articles that Grace had found. Rebecca hears a noise downstairs and goes to get a glass of water; she doesn’t notice the missing knife from her knife block. While continuing to research, Rebecca is snuck up on by Elena/Claire with a knife. She tells Rebecca that she is her daughter. Rebecca gave up the baby when she was a teenager and went on living her life. This is why Elena/Claire was so emotional while looking at old photos. While Rebecca was in college living her life, Elena/Claire was bouncing from a terrible foster home to countless other terrible foster homes.
Elena/Claire admits to killing Grace, and her only motive is to make Rebecca feel the loss she has felt her whole life. They struggle over a cell phone, and Elena/Claire slowly walks around the house looking for her mother. When Rebecca makes a run for it, Elena/Claire throws the knife at her hitting her in the leg. Elena/Claire goes for the kill but is knocked in the head by Jany and her backpack. (Multiple times.)
Pepper spray comes out, and Jany is incapacitated. Just as Elena/Claire is about to stab Jany to death, Rebecca goes in for a hug with her daughter. The tactic works and distracts Elena/Claire long enough to be stabbed with a fire poker by Jany. Rebecca cradles her daughter as she dies in her arms. It is sad!
Rebecca and Jason snuggle on the couch and mend their wounds. (Physical and emotional.) They tell one another that they love each other. Jany visits and seems pretty upset that she brutally murdered Rebecca’s daughter. Rebecca forgives her and plans to go back to teach at school. Everyone hugs. The end!
Side Note
Minority Report: Marie, Grace, Brit, Lily, science teacher, Grace’s mother,
Happy to see Director Michelle Ouellet telling female stories that don’t revolve around men.
Also known as Daughter Dearest
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Overall rating
🔪🔪🔪 (3 Knives)
🍷🍷🍷 (3 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2020 Lifetime
“Pepper spray comes out, and Jany is incapacitated. Just as Elena/Claire is about to stab Jany to death, Rebecca goes in for a hug with her daughter. The tactic works and distracts Elena/Claire long enough to be stabbed with a fire poker by Jany.” Oh, THAT’s what happened! This movie was just on TV here in the UK and thanks to being on at 2pm, the scissors made Jany’s role in the climax a bit incoherent thanks to all the cuts….
I always love your comments about these movies but on this one, you forgot one pretty important part. At the very end when Elaina was dying in her mothers arms, she looked up at her and said “I……… forgive you”. I thought that was a pretty powerful scene, but you didn’t even mention it. you were correct about one thing. I think it was sad as well. I think it was also sad when Elaina was explaining the life that she had to live and that she saw the photos of her young mother having a good time and traveling while she was fighting every day to stay alive. In this movie, I almost, no I definitely, sympathize with the killer. Obviously, she could have found a better way to express her disappointment and anger toward her mother, without having to kill anybody. But, then it wouldn’t be an LMN movie, would it? 😂
OMG, maybe I missed it! Thanks for adding that note. I often sympathize with the killer and am like, “what is wrong with me?” Haha!