At this year’s Dublin International Film Festival, Mutale Kampuni takes a look at Irish co-production Father Mother Sister Brother.
A comedy-drama written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, the film takes twists and turns around familial relationships and dynamics. This film looks at duty-bound adult children’s view of their parents, sibling interactions, rivalries and much more. Each member has a role to step into, no matter the length of time between encounters, each knows their place and must fulfil expectations, in a manner not dissimilar to muscle memory.
Three families are portrayed – estranged, distant, sometimes contrary, broaching awkward conversations and subjects. They must nonetheless get on and interact with one another. Brought together through a shared sense of duty or expectation, guilt or genuine concern, glimpses are cast on the families based in diverse locations – an unnamed rural town in the US, Dublin in Ireland, Paris in France.
Father
The first part of the film is Father, with Tom Waits cast as the father living in a small town in the US. Not so young siblings Jeff (Adam Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik) brave wintry conditions to reach his country abode, recalling as they go the last time they saw him at their mother’s funeral. On the journey there, the mood is anything but light as the two express concern over their father’s lack of a tangible income or means to support himself. Jeff indicates he has provided some financial assistance over the years, and comes bearing gifts: a box of provisions, thoughtfully selected and put together. They note the dilapidated truck parked in the driveway and there is also the issue of his lonely existence and what they see as the effect on his mental health following the death of their mother.
All is not as it appears though, the dishevelled appearance and scatty behaviour being carefully curated acts by the father. He asks Jeff about his work and Emily about her kids. The viewer is given a hint of unresolved issues from her childhood as Emily passes comments, harking back to bygone days and their father’s irresponsible nature whilst they were growing up. He does not engage and claims he would rather they enjoy the time together. When eyebrows are raised at the Rolex watch he sports on his wrist, he is quick to dismiss it as a cheap fake. The minute his children leave, having fulfilled their duty, the father casts off the pretence and reverts to form. He puts the house to order and arranges to meet a friend for dinner, driving off in a swanky car, not the scrap heap he put out on display for the visit.
Mother
In Dublin, the second family gather to partake in their annual tea party for three, the only day they get to see each other, despite all living in the ‘Fair City’. Mother (Charlotte Rampling) is an accomplished writer who welcomes her two adult daughters to her home in a leafy suburb. Timothea (Cate Blanchett) is the conservative one with sensible clothes, untrendy hairstyle and glasses. Even when her car breaks down on the way, she is determined to arrive on time. Her sister Lilith (Vicky Krieps) is the polar opposite, sporting pink hair that matches her coat and a Rolex watch which for some reason she is quick to claim is a knock-off. Lilith presents herself as free-spirited and enjoying financial success. She is given a lift by Jeanette, her girlfriend, pretending she is an Uber driver to avoid suspicion of their relationship. Her utmost goal is to ensure she is the top recipient of her mother’s affections and approval and will stop at nothing to cement the status quo.
When the mother asks for an update about their lives over the past 12 months, Timothea hesitantly reports on a recent significant promotion at work and is promptly interrupted by Lilith who announces her own success story with the influencers in her community. Her mother and sister appear unfamiliar with the term ‘influencers’.
The mother is as controlling as she is accommodating, keeping to herself all details of her best-selling romance novels. Tea is an elaborate and formal affair with choice pastries and the finest tea. A bouquet of flowers in the centre of the table is an obstruction and must be rearranged to allow mother and daughters to look at one another as they speak. Timothea feels she has to ask her mother’s permission to go to the bathroom and briefly escape the pretensions. The mother smooths over an awkward situation where Lilith gives an excuse for being unable to use her own account to order an Uber, and needs to use her mother’s. Rather than having been a joyful occasion for them, the conclusion is as of an obligation met, goodbyes for now, a repeat performance the next year.
Sister Brother
Non-identical twins Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat) travel to Paris to wind up the affairs of their deceased parents who have died in a plane crash in the Azores. They take the time to drive slowly through the city and the neighbourhood in their parents’ vintage Volvo P1800 and arrive at the apartment from which Billy has already moved out belongings. The siblings appear close, though each doing their own thing and living on different continents (Skye in New York and Billy in Paris). Communication is warm and they use the term ‘twin factor’ to explain their similarities and incidences of shared experiences over the years. As they sift through what is left, happy memories are evoked through old photos, childhood drawings and other bits and bobs. They find their father’s old Rolex and discover important paperwork and documents, some which yield previously unknown information and facts about their mother and father, amongst which are numerous fake IDs and a fake marriage certificate.
The landlady, Madame Gautier, makes an appearance and explains how she intervened to prevent the insurance company from confiscating the belongings as three months’ rent was owed at the time of the parents’ demise. Billy drives his sister to the lock-up storage unit to see their parents’ old furniture which they decide to keep for the time being. They agree they are not in a hurry to discard anything as they can keep alive their parents’ memory for as long as they need to.
Droll in parts, it takes a level of concentration from the viewer to get into gear and stay with the somewhat laid-back pace of storytelling. Subtext carries the film. The watch and skateboards appear across each scenario, open to interpretation. There is no doubt the stellar performances of all the actors lend weight to the success of the film too. The cinematography, meanwhile, captures the spirit of each cityscape and setting in a way that’s simply breathtaking.
The Dublin sequence was produced by Hail Mary Productions and effects and post-production were handled by Dublin-based Egg Post Production.
Father Mother Sister Brother is released in Irish cinemas on 10th April 2026.
