American Venus

Plot

Jenna (McGregor) is a teenage competitive skater who has been coached by her overprotective, high strung, gun-obsessed mother (De Mornay). When she quits competing and decides to go to college in Vancouver, her mother becomes very upset and tries to prevent her from leaving home; finally locking her in a hot sauna until she agrees to stay. Her father gives her money behind her mother's back and Jenna leaves home. Her mother goes to Canada to force her to come back home and resume competition. Once there, the mother becomes increasing unstable as she first tries to bring a handgun into Canada, tries to procure one from a drug dealer, and finally has sex with a policeman who gets a gun for her. After Jenna brings her father to Vancouver to fly her mother home that day, the mother instead insists, against Jenna's protests, that she will drive herself back. The father leaves and that night the mother breaks into Jenna's apartment and forces her to pack and drive home by gun point. Before they get out of Canada, the mother shoots a squeegee man who attempts to clean the windows. Shaking she orders Jenna to stop driving and runs into a tunnel in a park where she pulls the gun out and begs Jenna to shoot her. A struggle ensues over the gun with the mother getting a grazed in the head, knocking her off of her feet. As Jenna cradles her she acknowledges to Jenna that she must let her go. The movie ends with the mother returning to the United States the next morning with a bandage on her head.