The mother knew?

Okay first of all I really enjoyed this movie. Unlike some other reviewers I didn't think it should have been shorter or sped up. I felt like the landscape scenes were incredibly poignant, as she is completely on her own, thrown out into the world, almost seeing with brand new eyes as she becomes this new person.

So about the mother. I was cringing as Lola went up to the house, like is she seriously going to go this far? And I think the guy in the cafe at the end sums up the sentiment: that it's better to have some company than none at all. When the guys in the cafe also said that they heard the daughter was dead and the mother wasn't leaving the house, are we to assume the mother had also heard about her daughter?

I started getting suspicious when they were sitting out by the fire and the mother said something about "her daughter" playing in the garden or something, instead of saying "you"... and then Lola says, "she's here to tell you," speaking in the 3rd person - was that both of them acknowledging the lie but choosing not to speak directly about it?

Did the mom know or not - somebody help me out, I'm being thick. Or maybe we really aren't supposed to know? I get the impression the mother knew, and when Lola showed up she just went with it. Maybe they decided they were both lonely people and they would just trust each other. Ramble ramble........