Through Voice’s Voice Reviewers programme, I was lucky enough to attend a press screening of Darren Thornton’s Four Mothers at the BFI this week! I rated this film four stars because what it lacks in plot is made up in heart-warming-ness, which was exactly what I needed on a Wednesday evening after work. It is a comedy set in a town in Ireland that centres on a writer, Edward (James McArdle), trying to balance promoting his new YA novel and caring for his mother, Alma (Fionnula Flanagan), who is recovering from a stroke and has lost her voice. This becomes even more difficult when his friends leave their mothers with him unexpectedly to go to a Pride event abroad. Edward has now four mothers to look after, leading to four times the chaos!
Although it is a comedy, the mood of the film changes from light-hearted to despondent in a heartbeat as you go from laughing at a character to feeling sad for them. The main characters explored are Edward and the four mothers – Alma, Jean (Dearbhla Molloy), Maude (Stella McCusker), and Rosey (Paddy Glynn). The close-up shots that linger on their facial expressions, for example when they are laying in their beds or at the dining table, build an emotional connection between the audience and the characters. We see them struggle with loneliness, grief, and for Edward in particular, anxiety. The film is a “coming-of-age” narrative for all of them, I would say. Edward’s care for them and their living together creates community, even though it’s hard sometimes, and at first they aren’t happy about their living arrangement. What makes the film so funny is the situations that the women get Edward into, from Pride-esque road trips in a burrowed mini bus to Edward running after Jean’s cab as she speeds away to a karaoke bar. The funniest parts were always Alma’s lines – as she has lost her voice, she has to type what she wants to say into a computer that reads it out for her, leading to blunt, loud deliveries (“if we were going any slower, we’d be going back in time.”, as Edward drives her to church, “I want them out.” to Edward while the newly moved in women are in the room, to Edward’s horror). There is a sense of claustrophobia in the beginning scenes where they cram into Edward and Alma’s house, and Edward is running around fielding their requests that made me think you’d like this film if you enjoyed Shiva Baby (2021).
When I read the synopsis of this film I was worried that the women would be mocked, portrayed as inconveniences for Edward, but throughout the film he has so much respect for the women: what they say goes, and he prioritises caring for them first over work, even though his publishers are not happy about it. This film definitely goes against the messaging of our individualistic, capitalist culture, represented by his psychotherapist friend who leaves Rosey with him to go to Pride. This friend advises him “stop looking after other people and start looking after yourself”. Edward’s conversations with the mothers about family obligations and dynamics go against his friend’s mantra completely, making explicit a generational difference in perspective on care, Edward being in his thirties in the women in their seventies. For example, there’s a scene where Alma, Jean, and Maude discuss their late husbands fondly at the dining table. Edward protests against Alma’s idea of “needing a man”, but Rosey, who never married, agrees. She admits it would have been less lonely for her if she had a man in her life while she was raising her children, a moment of vulnerability that leaves Edward unsure of what to say. Four Mothers has simplistic, short dialogue of everyday, comfortable conversation. Their conversations leave lots of room for nuance which makes it relatable across generations. In the same scene, Edward says that Alma waited on his father “hand and foot” disapprovingly, though ironically this is what he is doing for her now, because he cares for her. Alma says she took on that role because his father worked - this was “normal back then”. There’s a reversal of the traditional carer role in this film, set in the present day, in that a man is looking after the mothers, rather than a woman. He balances the pressure of his career and family care responsibilities as women today are so often expected to. The film portrays the love that the women have for their family, and how they didn’t see this expectation to “wait on” them as a burden, while Edward struggles with this expectation more, though he loves his mother. Families now increasingly can’t afford to be full-time parents or carers, and are more likely to need to try to do what Edward does of balancing working alongside care responsibilities. The anxiety caused by needing to do this that Edward experiences I think many people will be able to relate to.
There’s a contrast throughout of the security created by their bonds and the insecurity of getting older, the mothers’ loneliness, and Alma’s fear of being put into a care home. The moral conflict that is at the forefront of this film – will Edward go to America or will he cancel his book tour to continue looking after his mother? - ends up being resolved by Alma. When he cancels the book tour to look after her, she tells him he “has to go”. Like Edward’s novel, Four Mothers is “not a love story”, but about his relationship with his mother. It reminds me of my favourite film, Ladybird (2017); especially the shots of them driving around together. They have a reciprocal relationship where it is not just Edward supporting Alma, she is able to be a support for him. Likewise, Edward’s kindness goes full circle in that Maude, Jean, and Rosey stay with Alma to look after Alma, allowing him to go on his book tour. The women are not inconveniences that hold him back, they are what propel him forward and allow him to achieve his dreams on his own terms, not the ones dictated by publishers and PR teams. The last scene is of the mothers sat around the dining table, proudly listening to a radio show where Edward is talking about his book and chatting away comfortably (despite lots of “Stop talking.” from Alma who wants to hear Edward). The film ends with the characters being able to rely on each other, and be independent together.
Overall, I think this film champions care over capitalism in a really lovely way, and I would recommend you go see it! If you’d like to catch the film, there are screenings of it during the BFI’s LGBT+ Film Festival, Flare, on the 28th and 30th of March. Flare is running from the 19th – the 30th of March, and you can browse the full programme here.
0 Comments