It’s curiously ironic that the search to learn more about a loved one you barely knew turns out to be a journey of discovery about oneself. Nevertheless, such was the case for actress Marisla Hargitay, daughter of screen legend Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967), who directed this revealing new HBO documentary about her relationship (or lack thereof) with the famous mother she lost in a tragic car accident when she was only three years old. Mansfield, one of the most visible movie idols of the 1950s and ʼ60s, was molded by the Hollywood star-making system into one of the era’s prototypical blonde bombshells in the same vein as Marilyn Monroe, often playing roles as a dimwitted but provocative sex symbol. Despite this typecasting, however, Mansfield had aspirations to be a serious actress, one capable of much more substantive parts. She also looked to make use of her underrated talents as an accomplished violin and piano virtuoso, capabilities that were often significantly downplayed as part of her monodimensional studio packaging. She was also a doting mother to her children – at least to her first three born. As the youngest, Mariska frequently received less attention than her siblings, which is partly why she believed, as she got older, that she hardly knew her mother during the short time they had together. As the film shows, however, Mariska arrived on the scene when her mother was undergoing her share of personal issues, having married three times and experienced a number of other turbulent relationships that often left Mansfield’s youngest sidelined. This documentary is thus a search for the filmmaker to learn more about the past she barely knew and why it unfolded as it did. Mansfield is brought back to life through an array of archive footage, interviews with Hargitay’s three elder siblings and her mother’s longtime publicist, and a revealing excavation into a family storage locker (closed off since 1969) in which artifacts of the actress’s life are uncovered, painting a telling picture of Jayne’s storied life and career. Through this investigatory process, Hargitay begins to understand why her mother’s life – and, consequently, her own life – turned out as it did. The picture thus provides an insightful, intimate, highly personal portrait of a Hollywood icon who, like Monroe, had very different public and private personas, one that was quite well known (albeit somewhat illusory) and one that few people outside of her inner circle (as well as some who were even within it) knew little about. The result is consequently both eye-opening for viewers, as well as the filmmaker herself. “My Mom Jayne” makes for a captivating watch in terms of how much it unexpectedly exposes about someone whom most in the public thought they knew, not to mention the inherent surprises that emerge as Mansfield’s personal story unfolds on screen. Admittedly, there are points in the film where the flow of the timeline of Mansfield’s life isn’t always presented as clearly as one might think it should have been, but there’s a reason for that to a certain degree, one that becomes clear as her story plays out. On balance, though, this endearing memoir meticulously pieces together the challenging but heart-rending relationship of a mother and daughter whose connection has taken years to surface and with which the filmmaker has struggled to understand and come to terms. Indeed, life may not always be what we believe it to be, but, then, sometimes it also turns out to be something unexpectedly special. That’s the journey Hargitay takes through this film, and moviegoers should appreciate her willingness to share that profoundly personal exploration with the rest of us, especially if it helps to shed light on our own experiences in the same way that this odyssey has done for her.
