It is a film about making a film, interspersed with the complex family issues faced by the Director, Margherita, played superbly by Margherita Buy. Foremost amongst those issues is the terminal illness of her mother, mirroring the experience of Nanni Moretti himself, while making his earlier film, We have a Pope.
Moretti’s personal experiences as both son and director bring a genuine depth to Mia Madre. Little White Lies opines that Moretti has a "self-imposed remit as a filmmaker who locates humour and levity in life's dimmest corners" and this is best brought out in scenes between Margherita and Barry Huggins, played by John Tuturro, a spectacularly self-deprecating turn as fading American-Italian screen star, brought in to give some gravitas to her film.
An eight minute standing ovation at Cannes gives an idea of the quality of this film. Mark Kermode agrees:
"The beautifully observed and delicately balanced result is a sublimely modulated blend of laughter and tears, a film that cuts to the very heart of profound personal loss without ever losing sight of the fact that life, in all its chaotic comedy, carries on regardless."