Spotlight on "My Mom Jayne"
Mariska Hargitay directs a stunning documentary about her late mother in “My Mom Jayne,” from HBO

Spotlight on "My Mom Jayne"

By investigating the secret corners of the life of her famous mother, Jayne Mansfield, Mariska Hargitay finally finds a kind of peace.

By Peter Travers

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★★★½ (3½ out of 4)

Forget any ideas you have about celebrity documentaries that build monuments to the perfection of their subject. “My Mom Jayne,” now on HBO/Max, brings us two flesh-and-blood women in all their flawed humanity. The first is Mariska Hargitay, Golden Globe best actress winner for the long-running series “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” and the other is her mother Jayne Mansfield, 1957 Golden Globe winner for New Star of the Year.