An absurdist drama ‘Mother, Couch’ is an adaptation of Jerker Virdborg’s 2020 novel ‘Mamma i soffa’ that follows three siblings David (Ewan McGregor), Gruffudd (Rhys Ifans) and Linda (Lara Flynn Boyle) as they try to leave a furniture store, but are unable to after their Mother (Ellen Burstyn) sits down on a couch and refuses to depart. An intricate tale of reflection, the film focuses on David and his journey of self discovery as the narrative becomes increasingly more bizarre.
Erratic and confused, the film begins with the characters already in action. David’s older brother Gruffudd is busy chatting up store assistant Bella (Taylor Russell) whilst David panics and worries over his mother’s unyielding intention to remain on the couch in the furniture store. Scrambling for answers David, as well as the audience, is set to resolve for why his mother is so determined.
Following a slew of questions, unrelated answers and monologues from Mother, the film becomes progressively peculiar. Peppering in intimate details about the characters, covering the siblings’ past, how they are all borne of different fathers and had grown up separate from each other.
Following David more closely than the others, the film focuses on the anxiety, stress and ultimately the sense of loss that McGregor’s David feels as a result of the matriarch’s actions. Confessing her disdain for her offspring and admitting to have never wanted them, David resolves to confront his parent, to release the anger he has pent up inside towards her and try to force her from the couch.
Unable to shift the old woman David instead suffers further pain as Mother stabs him in the back with a letter opener. Coming to therms with his elder’s unyielding contempt for her children, David slowly starts to see that he will never be able to change who Mother is.
David’s journey leads him to a final confrontation with Mother, as she has rigged the couch as a boat, preparing to sail off as water starts to surround them. Helping Mother launch the boat into water out of the furniture store window, she asks David for forgiveness. Reserved and hesitant, Mother praises the man for not answering her demand.
Persistent in its approach not to explain itself, the director and writer of the film Niclas Larsson brings forth a conceptual think piece on belonging, identity and familial love. Suffering from not having experienced that love through family, McGregor’s character anchors the film by going through a transition. Initially worrisome and distraught, his Mother’s utter disregard for him as a human being forces him to accept that a parent may not be the source of unconditional love and can in fact be the opposite. Once David accepts this truth he can move on and live free, untethered to the toxic presence in his life that was an unloving and unlovable parent.
Even though the film may not tie up neatly at the end, the jumbled message of gaining one’s independence and achieving some form of self actualization is apparent. Slightly unhinged and too divorced from reality to make enough sense to satisfy the viewer, ‘Mother, Couch’ may feel more laborious than may be necessary. Containing memorable and intriguing performances however, the film garners merit and can be enjoyed by those not too concerned with a normative narrative framework.
Score: 2/4
Comments