The Good Mother

Heartbreak time in this rigged tug-of-love drama. Divorced Anna (Keaton) brings up six-year-old daughter Molly (Vieira) on her own, and is making out nicely until she discovers the realm of the senses in the bed of sculptor Leo (Neeson). It's a shock when Molly reports to her father (Naughton) that Leo let her touch his penis, and he sues for custody. That was in fact all very innocent, but their taking the sleeping child into their bed during sex was questionable, and Anna's lawyer (Robards) advises her to throw Leo to the wolves if she wants to keep her kid. Is it possible to combine sexual ecstasy with motherhood, asks the blurb, but that's hardly made into a universal brain-teaser, nor into a comment on society's transition from permissive '60s to staid '80s, by this special case. Performances are good, though Keaton's snorting laughs and distracted manner are a bit of an obstacle course. Three hankie job.