The last few decades have delivered some knock-out performances of narcissist mothers in both film and television. Absurdly funny, selfish, grandiose, scheming, cruel, violent, or a bedeviling mix of all of the above, you've got to hand it to the brilliant actors who bring their villains to larger-than-life highs and lows on screen. Whether drawing from personal experience or the warped world of Hollywood, they have narcissist mothers down cold. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order.

Narcissist Mothers on Screen

devil wears prada scene--narcissist mothers on screen

In The Devil Wears Prada, it's almost too fun to watch Meryl Streep play a haughtily grandiose shark of a fashion magazine editor who loves to exploit and torment her personal assistants.

betty draper shooting pigeons--narcissist mothers on screen

Mad Men suburban mom Betty Draper, played by January Jones, is one cold cucumber who specializes in ignoring her kids. Here she takes aim at the neighbor's pigeons.

Arrested Development's matriarch Lucille Bluth, played by TV veteran Jessica Walter, is hilarious as a hard-drinking manipulator extraordinaire who infantilizes her youngest son, shames her oldest son, and scapegoats her daughter.

portia de rossi on arrested development--narcissist mothers on screen

Arrested Development is full of comically narcissistic characters, and like mother like daughter, Lucille Bluth's scapegoated daughter Lindsay Bluth FΓΌnke, played by Portia de Rossi, is so self-involved she barely remembers she has her own daughter.

Nancy Marchand, The Sopranos malevolent matriarch Livia Soprano, is impeccable in her portrayal of the passive-aggressive murderous mother of Tony. As a woman in a man's world, she is denied her fitting role as mob boss and resorts to diabolical hijinks from the sidelines. Marchand's untimely death nearly derailed the series, which was originally written to focus on Tony's relationship with his narcissistic mother.

remembering mary tyler moore as the chilling narcissist mother in 'ordinary people'--narcissist mothers on screen

Spoiler Alert: In Ordinary People, the 1980 Best Picture Oscar winner, Mary Tyler Moore leaves behind her image as America's sweetheart with her chilling portrayal of Beth Jarrett, the upper crusty mother who cannot forgive her scapegoated younger son for surviving a tragic boating accident in which her golden child older son died. (Read my full article about Ordinary People's spot-on portrait of a narcissistic family.)

angry mother in precious smoking a cigarette--narcissist mothers on screen

In Precious, based on the devastating novel Push by Sapphire, Mo'Nique plays teenaged Precious's terrifying and often sadistic mother. Mo'Nique, who won an Academy Award for the role as well as a standing ovation at the Oscars, managed to humanize her monster of a mother character with an almost pitiable view into her deranged rationale for the mental, physical, and sexual abuse she subjects her daughter to.

rachel getting married--narcissist mothers on screen Anne Hathaway in rachel getting married--narcissist mothers on screen

Spoiler Alert: In the 2008 Jonathan Demme (RIP) film Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway plays a borderline personality disordered addict just out of rehab who makes everything about herself during her sister's wedding weekend. But the real subterranean narcissist in the movie is the sisters' mother, played deftly by Debra Winger.

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Julie L. Hall is the author ofThe Narcissist in Your Life: Recognizing the Patterns and Learning to Break Free from Hachette Books. She is working on a memoir about life, and a few near deaths, in a narcissistic family (read excerpts).

Need support? Julie provides specialized narcissistic abuse recovery coaching to clients around the world.

Related Articles by Julie L. Hall

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