Darren Thornton’s Four Mothers, a remake of the Italian film Mid-August Lunch, is a very easy film to fall in love with. With a charming script, an excellent ensemble cast, and a whole lot of heart, the comedy covers everything from aging to loneliness to Pride to caregiving to trauma and family relationships, and does it all without tipping into full-blown schmaltz or resorting to emotional manipulation. It’s a slice of Irish life born of experience and empathy, and audiences will certainly recognize themselves in its characters no matter their stage of life.
The relationship at the centre of the film is between YA novelist Edward (James McArdle) and his mother Alma (Fionnula Flanagan). A recent victim of a stroke, Alma can no longer speak and bosses her full-time carer son around via software on her trusty and always-present iPad. Edward has little time for much of a social life, and only has two close friends and his therapist for company. When all three abandon him for a Pride weekend in Spain, Edward is left hosting and caring for his friends’ aging mothers along with his own. And through it all, he must find a way to break some life-changing career news to his mother–news he knows she’s not going to love. What follows is a loving tribute to mothers everywhere, their loving, middle-aged gay sons, and to letting the past go for the sake of the future.
Thornton co-wrote the script with his brother Colin, and it was clearly a labour of love. Veteran actress Flanagan pulls together a three-dimensional character despite having no actual dialogue, and manages to convey a thousand words with one good look. Each glare resonates and may send adults swiftly back to childhood chastisement. The real star here though is Scottish actor McArdle who, it must be noted, absolutely nails his Dublin accent. His Edward is a man in limbo. Though proud of his career as a writer, he lacks confidence and assertiveness and often lets others take the lead. He loves his mother dearly, but feels guilty anytime he even begins to think of her or her presence as any kind of burden. There is never any question that he will do what’s best for his mother, but he has to find a way to advocate for his own needs. McArdle engenders sympathy and laughs in equal measure. Watching him deal with the onslaught of unexpected, aged female company is hilarious, but watching him slowly learn from them from their collective life experience is almost profound in its simplicity.
There are great supporting turns, too. Stalwart Irish actress Niamh Cusack, who briefly appears as a social media influencer/medium, gives us the film’s biggest, laugh-out-loud moment, while Gaetan Garcia is a calm and caring presence as Alma’s visiting carer, Raf. Each of the other mothers (played by Dearbhla Molloy, Stella McCusker, Paddy Glynn) bring very different but incredibly welcome energy to the ensemble, each evolving in their own, unique and engaging way. No one overstays their welcome, which is a hard balance to strike in comedies such as these.
The whole production rings with authenticity, even during its more madcap moments. Four Mothers is a gem of a film that will resonate with both young and old. Let’s hope it gets a release that allows audiences all over the world to get the chance.
Four Mothers screened as part of this year’s Blue Mountain Film + Media Festival. For more from the festival, head here.
