Four Mothers

Four Mothers, dir. Darren Thornton, 2024, Ireland/UK, 89 min. 💖
Saturday, June 21, 2025, 6:00 pm, Vogue Theatre

Four Mothers

Edward is a writer, but, well into his thirties, he is still at home caring for his elderly mother Alma, having also cared for his father until his death, with no help from other family. Alma had a stroke, and can only communicate via text-to-speech on an iPad. Edward’s previous work, a Y.A. novel about a young gay couple, was a modest success in the UK and Ireland several years ago, but has just suddenly caught the attention of the US market, leading his publisher to push him to do a US book tour. He tries to find a way to go on the book tour without leaving his mother unassisted. His therapist tells him, “Repeat after me: ‘I’m going to stop taking care of other people and start taking care of myself.’” Two of Edward’s friends decide to jet off to the Canary Islands for Maspalomas Pride, dumping their own elderly mothers on Edward’s doorstep. The therapist decides that’s such a good idea, he piles on, leaving Edward to care for four cranky elderly women over a long weekend.

Edward is pushed from four different directions, squeezing out any thought of taking care of himself, even at times forcing him out of his own home. The five of them, plus Edward’s ex Raf, even take a road trip to Galway to see a spiritual medium. The mothers do an excellent job of being exceedingly irritating (to one another, but especially to Edward), to the point that you want to strangle the three friends and all four of the mothers. The pressure builds to a boil, but I won’t tell you how it resolves; you’ll have to see for yourself. It is a comedy, but it has more than a few poignant moments, too, besides which I’m a sucker for an Irish accent. Must see.

• IMDb • trailer • official website •