Mother, Couch

I have no idea what this film was about and neither will you. The storyline goes like this, three children who go and find their mother sitting on a couch in a furniture store and tries to get her to leave the store but she doesn't want to leave. And from there, you're left to think that the story is actually going to lead up to something spectacular or tragic to unfold and it literally does neither. From the beginning to the very end, you don't know what the message in the film is actually relaying. It's just a bunch of incoherent scenes meshed together leading up to a climax that leaves you pondering wtf did I just watch, I kid you not. Excellent cast but a very incoherent story that literally made no sense.

I think this film deserves a review even though I'm still processing some of the scenes.

This is not an easy story to describe. So I understand some negative reviews that may be posted.

Much of the investment is with McGregor's character and his relationship with his mother. This unfolds initially as a straight-forward affair of a son whose mom refuses to leave a furniture store (staking her claim on a specific couch in the store).

As the story progresses, you begin to realize not everything is as it seems. Once you realize this, the film takes on a different light and the focus on McGregor's character becomes a bit more justified.

Still, I think the brother and sister deserved a little more substance of character than what was provided. Kudos to Lara Flynn Boyle for making the most out of something less.

'An elderly mother visits a furniture store, and refuses to leave a couch that she sits on'. If, after that synopsis you still go ahead and watch, then you should be open minded enough to accept what follows?

Great acting performances by everyone involved, especially Ewan McGreggor, who gives possibly the performance of his career. The dialogue, whilst sometimes bland, is suited to the family dynamics of the three siblings and their mom, in what is an increasingly bizarre scenario. What does it all mean? Who knows, but it engrossed me to the end. You either take the journey or you hop off at the first stop. The ending is unexplained, surreal, maybe dream like, and undoubtedly allegorical ( of what? I have my own view but its likely wrong so will not explain here).

Mother Couch gave me a similar vibe to 'His Three Daughters' which I also saw very recently and which also split viewers into two camps.

Surreal yet drab drama "Mother Couch" is another pretentious art-house bore that tries so hard to be clever with its analogies & hidden meanings that it ends up as incomprehensible tosh... wasting in this case a fine & under-rated cast. When bitter old Ellen Burstyn refuses to leave a run-down warehouse-like furniture store run by Taylor Russell (terrific) & F Murray Abraham, her kids Ewan MacGregor (with wife Lake Bell), Rhys Ifans & Lara Flynn Boyle get involved... resulting in old (and new!) wounds opening. This debut of writer (adapting Jirker Virdborg's novel 'Mamma I Soffa') / director Niclas Larsson won't have many hungering to see what he serves up next. Hard pass.

OK so here's what happens. Mother (Ellen Burstyn) is in a store and sits down on a couch and refuses to move. Her 3 children Gruffud (Rhys Ifans), David (Ewan McGregor) and Linda (Lara Flynn Boyle) all meet up at the store to chat to their mother. They are perturbed at her not telling them why she won't move from the couch. There's lots of chat, but it is inane and banal chat which doesn't mean anything and doesn't tell us anything except all 3 of them seem slightly inept at life. This continues, until the end of the film. There are no redeeming factors. Ewan McGregor is his usual low grade self, quite how he gets jobs I have no idea. The dialogue is awful, there's no explanation of development of any characters, it really is appalling.

There does not seem to be a coherent story here, the score appears to match that of a farcical comedy, the acting is well below par except for Ellen Burstyn, and the dialogue is confusing and irritating in it's banal nonsensical way.

I honestly can't tell you what it's about because it doesn't seem to be about anything. I gave it a 2 and that's solely for Ellen Burstyn's part in it.