Cinema | "Four Mothers for Edward": Four perms for one hallelujah

"I just can't take it anymore. All she wants to do is smoke and watch TV," complains Colm, who cares for his elderly mother, Jean, around the clock, to his friends who are in the same boat. Maude, Billy's mother, constantly sneaks into strangers' wakes, while Edward's mother, Alma, deprived of her voice by a stroke, nevertheless has no trouble bossing her son around using a voice app on her iPad—with the authority of an Irish matriarch in the digital age.

Darren Thornton and his brother and co-writer Colin know what they're talking about. When their first film, "A Day for Mad May," came out, they decided to return to their parents' house to care for their mother, who had become a nursing case – and from then on, she too had to communicate via tablet. As luck would have it, they were soon offered the opportunity to adapt Gianni di Gregorio's hit Italian comedy "The Feast in August." The basic idea remained the same: Rome became Dublin, and this time it's about three gay friends who drop off their mothers at the ever-helpful Edward's house to enjoy a few days at Maspalomas Pride on Gran Canaria.

It is touching to watch how the women carefully open up on this journey.

Edward's mother is played by the brilliant Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan, who was most recently seen as the grandmother in "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes." It's impressive how, deprived of her voice as a means of expression, she brings depth to this complex role through facial expressions, body language, and penetrating gazes alone.

The other mothers are also excellently cast, with Dearbhla Molloy as the grumpy Jean, Stella McCusker as the stuffy Maude, and Paddy Glynn as the formerly single Rosey – the mother of Edward's therapist. They are all stubborn and demanding, no doubt about it. But at the same time, they are full of dry humor and worldly wisdom.

And so Edward, in his mid-thirties, has his hands full. His coming-of-age novel has just gone viral on TikTok and he is finally on the verge of his literary breakthrough. His publisher is putting him under considerable pressure to seize the opportunity and go on a reading tour to America. To do so, however, he would have to temporarily place his mother in a nursing home – a step he knows only too well that she would never agree to. As if that weren't complicated enough, Edward is also suffering from heartbreak. It is his ex-boyfriend Raf, of all people, who is helping him with these headstrong women. A painful situation – because Edward would like Raf back, but he has long since started a new relationship.

Nevertheless, he keeps postponing the decision for the urgently needed reading tour, instead taking care of the various breakfast requests of his clients and occasionally chasing after Jean when she runs off to sing Black's "Wonderful Life" with a twisted pathos in a shabby karaoke bar.

When his situation escalates and his publisher practically puts a gun to his head, he allows himself to be persuaded by the stubborn mothers to go on a little trip. Their goal: a séance with a medium who is supposed to contact their deceased husbands. Everyone goes along, except for single mother Rosey, who simply wants to go on a road trip.

It's touching to watch the women cautiously open up on this journey—and talk about how it took time for them to accept their sons' sexual orientation. In predominantly Catholic Ireland, where homosexuality was only decriminalized in 1993 and marriage equality was only introduced by referendum in 2015, this was by no means a given. Niamh Cusack amuses us in this séance sequence as the eccentric clairvoyant—and when Edward's suppressed anger at his father suddenly erupts during the necromancy, the otherwise humorous scene becomes an emotional catalyst.

In a world where empathy is less important, the writer Edward, touchingly portrayed by James McArdle, grows increasingly close to the audience's heart. It is therefore no wonder that the tragicomedy won the Audience Award at its world premiere at the London Film Festival in 2024. Like the stubborn but lovable Irish Golden Girls, as this warm-hearted crowd-pleaser progresses, you realize that the insecure Edward sometimes uses his mother as an excuse to avoid taking the next step.

Mastering the difficult balancing act of taking responsibility for ourselves without offending those we love is a dilemma that Edward is not the only one familiar with: Just think of the approximately 7.1 million people in Germany who selflessly care for their relatives every day – torn between a sense of duty, affection and the often postponed desire to finally think about themselves again.

"Four Mothers for Edward," Ireland 2024. Directed by Darren Thornton. Starring: James McArdle, Fionnula Flanagan, Dearbhla Molloy. 89 minutes, Release: July 10