MY MOM JAYNE: A FILM BY MARISKA HARGITAY © Alamy Stock Photo
My Mom Jayne: a film by Mariska Hargitay: Jayne Mansfield’s daughter pays tribute to her mother
In My Mom Jayne: a film by Mariska Hargitay, being presented in the Cannes Classics selection, actress and producer Mariska Hargitay goes looking for her mother Jayne Mansfield. She died suddenly in a car crash in 1967 at the age of just 34, leaving behind five children including Mariska, only three years old at the time, with the memories she has being never-before-seen photos and videos that are unveiled in this documentary.
The whole world remembers Jayne Mansfield, the Hollywood icon of the 1950s and 1960s with the angelic smile, but her own daughter, Mariska Hargitay, grew up with no memory of a mother who she barely knew. To fill this gap in her identity, Mariska began working on the documentary feature film entitled My Mom Jayne: a film by Mariska Hargitay, which is to be broadcast on HBO from June 2025 onward. In something resembling cinema therapy, Mariska Hargitay steps behind the camera for the very first time, filming herself as she investigates and analyzes photographs, as well as her older siblings who share with her the memories she missed out on. As her investigation progresses, Mariska takes a deep dive into her mother’s life and uncovers secrets she was not expecting to find.
The film, seen through her daughter’s eyes, sometimes tough, sometimes tender, debunks the myth surrounding Jayne Mansfield. Who was the woman behind the sex symbol? What kind of mom was the woman the press called “Hollywood’s smartest dumb blonde”?
Screening in the presence of Mariska Hargitay.
