Paula is an older woman, a widow, whose grown son, a successful lawyer, is worried about her and wants to get her someone to take care of her. He brings her a young woman from the Philippines to be her caregiver, but she is not interested. After she breaks down and confides in her friend about her loneliness and difficulties in taking care of herself, her friend takes her to a Catholic church where the priest arranges for a Polish girl to work for her. The girl's name is Valentina.
Aging Paula and teenage Valentina get along very well. Like little girls, they sing songs, watch soap operas and eat ice cream together. As their relationship becomes more complex, Valentina awakens memories in Paula, memories that were long forgotten, and slowly she becomes obsessed with the past, with her memories of her family in Poland before the war, and her childhood best friend, a Christian girl also named Valentina.
Extreme close-ups on Paula's face reveal what she is thinking and how she is reacting, showing a woman who is losing her grasp on reality and is confused between her past and the present.
Watch the trailer of Valentina's Mother (Israel, 2008, 75 minutes)
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