My favourite film of the festival so far!
So funny. Just great. Stellar cast. So identifiable.
Edward is caring for his elderly mother Alma, who is paralysed down one side and has lost the ability to speak, save for using the text-to-speech app on her ipad. She doesn’t let that stop her though, making her will known. She can boss him about just as easily with a computer-generated voice, and anyone else for that matter.
He and his three pals are all middle-aged, gay and single, and quietly panicking about it. In an attempt to recapture their care-free 20s, his pals jet off to Maspalomas Pride for the weekend, leaving their wee mammies with Edward.
Edward spends the weekend trying to manage four intractable, strong-minded elderly women, and moving to the backburner some big upcoming decisions about his career. I love that Alma isn’t happy about the situation either, not enjoying her home being taken over by strangers one jot.
And this review can’t go on any further without me saying it, how amazing Irish national treasure Fionnula Flanagan is as Alma. Fionnula doesn’t ever physically speak a line in this movie, and yet she manages to have brilliant comedy timing. What she manages to convey with absolute clarity, by turns scathing, by turns hilarious, using just her face is something that is only possible when you have spent 60 years honing your craft as a highly regarded actor. An absolute gem!
Edward is facing renewed interest in his debut novel, which was about young gay love and coming-of-age in Dublin. This kinda underlines that the usual gay story you see in media is always the coming out story, always young people struggling with the expectations of heteronormativity from family, always defying their parents to break free. Four Mothers in contrast is about the return. What happens after? When, after the tumult of rejection or acceptance, your parents get old like everybody else.
What I love about seeing more films like this, is that there are films like this. The absence of these kinda stories is because most people faced complete rejection and an end to the relationships with their parents, and because the media was only interested in portraying homosexuals who died tragically young. Out queer people having stories about caring for their elderly parents in their middle-age is something I am so glad to be seeing on screen.
This film is so good. If any of you have a mother over in Ireland, you will recognise so much in this film. Crashing the wakes of total strangers, avidly following the funeral announcements, being taken in by any old shite on Facebook, commanding immediate and complete compliance with the drawing of a stern look. I loved it all so much!
Please go see it, it’s exactly the kind of good laugh you need.