I’ve seen a lot of films that are set in one location, but I don’t I’ve ever seen a movie quite like Mother Couch before.  The Hateful Eight, 12 Angry Men, Locke, and others have more of an aesthetic and interesting story about them. This one is rather boring and benign. It’s just not that fascinating and the family dynamic isn’t as in-depth as other films about the family dynamic.

David (Ewan McGregor) Gruff (Rhys Ifans) goes to a furniture store, Oak Beds Furniture to get their mother a dresser.  The problem is their mother (Ellen Burstyn) goes upstairs and sits down on a fancy green couch and doesn’t want to get up to leave. Her family members and the employee who works in the store Bella (Taylor Russell) all try to get her to leave, but she won’t leave. This situation eventually turns into a family argument at the store.

Writer/director Nicolas Larsson sets this film in a strange location as far as a furniture store goes. In general, what this movie is really about is a dysfunctional family and how the mother character played by Burstyn is fed up with how she’s been treated by her children for years. They are trying to get her to go to an old folk home and this is the way she is protesting. A lot of other things come out in the story though in the process.

There is a disrespect that she has noticed in her life. Her children have neglected to include her in their lives. They have shown her that they don’t care about her anymore. They have moved on in their own lives that they have forgotten to give the proper care and attention to this woman who raised them and took care of them their entire lives. This scenario of her not wanting to leave the store Forces them to talk to her and get their feelings out and they start to bond like they haven’t in years with their mother.

We’ve all had our fair share of family drama I’m sure, but this story takes the cake. I haven’t gotten along with my father for years and my brothers and sister, even though we are adults now, tend to bicker when we get together. To stage a sit-in at a furniture store because of not getting along with your children is quite dramatic. This strange predicament is one of the oddest or most bizarre stories I’ve seen in my many years of watching movies. I wonder if this story is semi-autobiographical or not. That’s the biggest question I have with the story. It’s such an odd film to make regarding the location and family dynamic.

The cast is pretty good but as one character says none of them look alike. That is a story beat that is discussed that gives more context to the film. McGregor, Ifans, Burstyn, and Russell are all good in their various roles. They all have various story arts that help the viewers figure out who these people truly are in their personal lives. They tend to settle into the store and eventually, the owner played by F Murray Abraham comes to the business and he adds another element to an already strange dynamic.  Lake Bell as McGregor’s character’s wife and Laura Flynn Boyle as his sister add even more flavor to the story. It’s an eclectic cast that’s for sure. They all bring a different mindset to their characters within the context of the story.

Mother Couch has a lot of dynamics to it despite it being set in a furniture store. The dysfunctional family dynamic is the crux of the story.  Larsson puts the audience in a place of familiar territory regarding the family drama. This isn’t your typical type of scenario, but it works in context to what he’s trying to say. I can relate to the siblings not getting along and the lack of respect for an elderly parent. It hits a little too close to home for me as it were. This film is better than it has any reason to be and that’s a credit to its cast and writer-director. 

3 stars

Dan Skip Allen