Mother's Day (, also released as Muttertag – Die härtere Komödie) is a 1993 Austrian black comedy film directed by Harald Sicheritz in his feature film debut. Written by Sicheritz with Peter Berecz, Alfred Dorfer and Roland Düringer, it is based on the cabaret piece of the same name by the Austrian comedy group Schlabarett.
The film follows 48 hours in the life of the Neugebauer family in a Viennese municipal housing estate in the days immediately before Mother's Day. A seemingly peaceful family weekend descends into grotesque conflict as infidelity, petty theft, attempted murder, family resentment and the threat of institutionalising the grandfather come to the surface.
Although it received mixed and sometimes negative reviews on release, Mother's Day later became regarded as a cult film in Austrian cinema. The Austrian Film Institute lists 89,051 theatrical admissions for the film in Austria.
Plot The film takes place over a Mother's Day weekend in a Viennese housing estate. Edwin Neugebauer, his wife Trude, their son Mischa and Edwin's father live together in a cramped municipal apartment. What is meant to be a conventional family celebration gradually turns into a series of escalating domestic and social disasters.
Edwin's marriage to Trude is strained, Trude is preoccupied with her own desires and petty theft, Mischa secretly prepares a dangerous modified kitchen knife as a Mother's Day present, and Grandpa Neugebauer discovers that the family is considering sending him to a retirement home. Around them, neighbours, postal workers, police officers, petty criminals and other figures from the estate form a grotesque panorama of suburban Viennese life.
Cast Several of the principal actors play multiple roles.
Alfred Dorfer as Mischa Neugebauer / Police officer Gratzl Reinhard Nowak as Edwin Neugebauer / postal worker / neighbour boy Andrea Händler as Trude Neugebauer / postal worker / youth-group leader as Evelyn Schöbinger / cashier Haberl Roland Düringer as Grandpa Neugebauer / bearded neighbour / postman Zapletal / other roles Karl Künstler as Herr Schwalbach as Frau Habitzl as Frau Klein Gudrun Tielsch as confused woman Lukas Resetarits as homeless man Willi Resetarits as thief Monika Weinzettl as Gerti Karl Markovics Fritz Muliar Hanno Pöschl I Stangl
Production Mother's Day was adapted from a cabaret work by Schlabarett, the Austrian group associated with Dorfer, Düringer, Händler, Nowak and Billisich. ORF described the film as a continuation of the early-1990s Austrian trend of "Kabarett goes film", following the success of Paul Harather's Indien.
The Austrian Film Institute lists the screenplay authors as Harald Sicheritz, Alfred Dorfer, Roland Düringer and Peter Berecz. The film was produced by Scheiderbauer Film, with Heinz Scheiderbauer as producer, Helmut Pirnat as cinematographer, Paul Sedlacek as editor, and music by Peter Janda, Peter Herrmann and Lothar Scherpe. Stadtkino Wien lists the production company as Fernsehfilmproduktion Dr. Heinz Scheiderbauer and Stadtkino Filmverleih as distributor.
Filming took place in Vienna during summer 1993. The Austrian Film Institute describes the film as set in a Viennese Gemeindebau, while Filmarchiv Austria identifies the housing estate as Am Schöpfwerk.
Release Although produced in 1993, the film was released theatrically in Austria on 23 February 1994. The Austrian Film Institute records 89,051 admissions. The film was also shown at the Viennale in its Austrian films 1993/94 programme.
In 2026, Filmarchiv Austria presented a digitally restored version of the film at the Metro Kinokulturhaus in Vienna.
Reception and legacy The Lexikon des internationalen Films, published by Filmdienst, described the film as the screen adaptation of a cabaret piece about a petty-bourgeois Viennese suburban family thrown into existential turmoil on Mother's Day. Its review was critical, arguing that the film's lack of formal qualities undermined its intended social satire, and calling it chaotic and at times tasteless despite some comic ideas.
Later assessments have been more favourable to its cultural importance. Cinema Austriaco described the film as Sicheritz's debut feature and a work that became a cult film within contemporary Austrian cinema despite its fragmented structure and the negative reviews it initially received. Filmarchiv Austria likewise described Mother's Day as a "Kinokult" whose reputation has grown well beyond the uncertainty surrounding its production. ORF has repeatedly described the film as an Austrian cult comedy and noted its association with the careers of Sicheritz, Dorfer, Düringer, Nowak, Billisich and Händler.
See also List of films set around Mother's Day
References
External links
at the Austrian Film Institute