The universal truths Gregorini ostensibly hopes to unearth here actually end up feeling more than a little murky.

Tackling the pain of motherhood and guilt of daughterhood, director Francesca Gregorini builds unbearable tension into scenes that otherwise risk tilting toward melodrama.

A film so self-serious that it demands to be remade as a Seth MacFarlane farce, "The Truth About Emanuel" mixes the ludicrous and the pretentious in a story about mommy issues gone wild.

When viewed as a commentary on loss and mental illness, the story becomes poignant and heartbreaking.