Law & Order: SVU‘s Mariska Hargitay directs this deeply personal documentary about her search for connection with her movie-star mother, Jayne Mansfield.
In her feature film directorial debut, Hargitay does a remarkable job behind the lens. The film examines the life of Hargitay's late mother, Jayne Mansfield. The film had its world premiere in the Cannes Classics section of the 78th Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2025, where it was nominated for the L'Œil d'or. It received a limited theatrical release on June 20, 2025, and it released on HBO today, June 27, 2025 at 8:00–10:00 p.m. ET/PT and will be available to stream on Max.
Mariska was three years old when her mother, Jayne Mansfield, tragically died in a car accident at the age of 34—leaving behind five children. The film follows Mariska as she seeks to answer her long-held questions about her mother and integrate the truths she uncovers into her own sense of self. As she explores the complexities behind who Jayne Mansfield was in public, she reckons with the persona that Jayne created, but was later desperate to escape. Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings, who each has their own memories of their mother, and an excavation of the photographs, letters, and cherished belongings Jayne left behind, Mariska assembles a new picture of the extraordinary, complex woman whose image and legacy she resisted for so many years.
Moving and honest, this documentary brings vulnerability and love front and center. Featuring film clips from Jayne’s work in the 1950s and ‘60s, archival footage from her many talk show appearances and interviews, as well as striking personal footage, the film contextualizes the dazzling star power of the most photographed Hollywood celebrity of her day.
Featured Participants are: Mariska’s siblings Jayne Marie Mansfield, Mickey Hargitay, Jr., Zoltan Hargitay, and Tony Cimber; stepmother Ellen Hargitay; and Jayne Mansfield’s press secretary Raymond “Rusty” Strait.