Americans today are consumed by age and the fear of “getting older.” As baby boomers near the golden years, many past taboos have suddenly appeared under the microscope. For some time, our culture has not batted an eye at an older man dating a younger woman -- Donald Trump thanks you for that. In The Mother, viewers are pushed to broaden their liberalism with an earnest exploration of what it’s like for an older woman to become involved sexually with a younger man.

May (Anne Reid) and her husband Toots (Peter Vaughan) have finally decided to take the long journey from their suburban home in England to London for a visit with their grown children. Although there’s been little communication between the family, May and Toots are still surprised by the coldness they feel from the children.

Son Bobby (Steven Mackintosh) is so busy with a business enterprise and overseeing the reconstruction of the retro house belonging to him and his wife (Anna Wilson Jones), he barely has time to tell his parents where to put their bags. Their grandchildren, Harry and Rosie, look at the old couple like relics from a museum.

After only a few days, Toots dies of a heart attack. May slips into a cocoon of loneliness, so when Bobby drives her back home, she refuses to stay. “I’m not ready to be old yet,” she confesses and returns back to his house where he gets dagger stares from his wife.

When May decides she’s in the way, her single-parent daughter, Paula (Cathryn Bradshaw), invites Mom to her house to sleep on the sofa. She’ll be a big help in looking after her grandson, Jack. May soon meets the love of Paula’s life, Darren (Daniel Craig), the handyman remodeling Bobby’s house, who is also married.

Noted English actress Anne Reid, excellently taps into both May’s sorrow and joy. “I saw May as a woman who has lived half a life without realizing it …and then really begins to realize who she is,” said Reid.

Daniel Craig (Sylvia, Road to Perdition), no stranger to the big screen, displays his marvelous talent in a very meaty role. Darren’s charisma is immediately infectious; yet his behavior as a degenerate playboy seems just as easily disgusting.

When May and Darren begin an affair, it becomes the devastating snare that changes everyone’s life. Like too many spiders in a web, there are soon many entanglements in this complex story that takes an earnest look at respect, misconceptions and betrayal.

(Released by Sony Classic Pictures and rated "R" for sexual content including graphic images of sexuality, language and brief drug use.)