Maverick Mother
The Future Families series is an interesting set of documentaries commissioned by Australian public broadcaster SBS, to explore the changes in society from the traditional post-war nuclear definition, to broader, more realistic units, including blended, single-parent, and same-sex families.
In Maverick Mother, 39-year-old Sydney-based artist, Janet Merewether, embarks on a journey from young single-dom, to middle-aged single motherhood. She has decided that she is sufficiently mature and capable to raise a child on her own, and seems acutely aware of the difficulties she faces both in conceiving, and in raising, the child she desires.
What ensues is utterly fascinating, but not necessarily for the reasons Ms Merewether intended. Despite her declaration of independence in the first part of the film, what we see for the remainder of it, is a woman determined to re-establish contact with the child's father and, while assuring him (and the camera) that she requires nothing of him, bemoaning the difficulties of being a single mother.
In fact, Janet shares a house with friends, who seem to be happy to help out, as does her family, despite their misgivings surrounding the circumstances in which young Arlo (Janet's son) was conceived. Moreover, Arlo looks to be at least a couple of months old before Janet is left alone overnight with him. That she feels compelled to set up the camera and inform us of the novelty of the situation, indicates that she has hardly been flying solo.
So, from someone who professed to be sufficiently mature and independent in the opening scenes of the film, we see a woman fearful of disclosing the circumstances of her conception to her parents, and a woman who, surrounded by friends and family who appear to be actively involved in her and her son's lives, laments the difficulties of being a "solo" parent. It takes a village, Janet reminds us, to raise a child, and there seems little doubt that Arlo will be cared for by Janet's entourage, even if she is rather too self-involved to see that such a group exists.
Maverick Mother may have benefited from being made by someone else. The subject of the film is a little too self-involved, and lacking in sufficient distance to give this film the focus and direction that this viewer felt it needed. In some respects, the documentary seems padded: retro vignettes that established a kitsch feel, and spurred momentum at the beginning of the film, quickly become irritating and insubstantial. They don't shed any light on the subject matter which becomes most interesting: Janet's journey, and her reflections on her experience. Also, the more visceral components of the film (such as Janet's labour and footage of Arlo's birth), were quite unnecessary. It is, quite simply, another home-birth, and does nothing to substantiate the topics being explored.
This is where another filmmaker may have been beneficial. This film doesn’t delve deeply enough into Janet’s emotional experiences, nor does it satisfactorily flesh out socio-political issues surrounding single motherhood in the past. Less time using stuffed knitted toys as props, and more time spent interviewing some of the women who experienced the trauma of having to deny the existence of their children, would have been far more interesting.
Ultimately, the term "maverick" hardly seems to apply to Janet Merewether. Many children nowadays are born out of wedlock, so she's neither breaking new ground, nor is she a dissenter. And she's hardly the first woman to give birth! But it's perhaps that lack of insight that makes this documentary rather interesting to watch.