12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘My Mom Jayne' Review: Mariska Hargitay's Personal Production on HBO
It might be argued that Hollywood sex symbol Jayne Mansfield is more famous now for being the mother of Mariska Hargitay than for her own status as a prototypical '50s bombshell and star of such films as 'The Girl Can't Help It.' Ms. Hargitay's tenure as Olivia Benson on 'Law and Order: SVU,' after all, has lasted twice as long as her mother's entire film career.
But Mansfield, who died in a violent car crash in 1967, does occupy a singular if amorphous place in the pop-culture pantheon, and Ms. Hargitay's mission as director and producer of 'My Mom Jayne' is multifold: rehabilitate her mother's reputation as one of the 'dumb blondes' who rode the wake of Marilyn Monroe (Diana Dors and Mamie Van Doren were others); examine Mansfield as an example of manufactured Hollywood product; and come to grips with her own trauma concerning parentage and inheritance. It is a very personal documentary, a designation that can connote the good, the not-so-bad and the distinctly uncomfortable. 'My Mom Jayne' has it all, including a puzzle that Ms. Hargitay pursues throughout.
