Title: Mother Couch
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Director: Niclas Larsson
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Ellen Burstyn, Taylor Russell
Runtime: 1 hr, 35 mins

What It Is: Estranged siblings accompany their mother to a furniture store to pick out a dresser when, suddenly, she refuses to leave a couch. David (Ewan McGregor) seems to be the only one concerned about this predicament, while the other two remain indifferent. However, things in this furniture store are not as they seem.

What We Think:

Oh boy, where do I begin? When I heard the premise of this film, I figured it could go one of two ways: I’d either love it or hate it. The couch motif almost felt like a random mad lib, so I thought I’d either be blown away by how they used it or utterly disappointed. After all, it’s a film about a couch, for crying out loud.

Somehow, neither extreme happened—and yet, both did. On one hand, there were elements I really enjoyed, and on the other, there were things I didn’t care for. Right off the bat, as you might guess, this film is highly metaphorical. I won’t spoil the metaphor, but it’s clear that the story is about much more than an old lady refusing to leave a couch. There’s a strange, whimsical quality to the film that teeters between brilliant and pretentious. If I had to compare it to something, I’d say it feels closest to a hallucinatory dream. I generally enjoy strange, surreal stories, but at times, some of the metaphors or bizarre elements felt almost forced into the plot, while other sequences flowed more naturally.

The pacing in the beginning is also quite slow, and for the first half of the film, I was expecting to give it a negative review. The situation is played somewhat straight at first, and to be honest, an old lady refusing to leave a couch isn’t exactly a gripping premise, so I had a hard time getting into it.

However, in the second half, when the film leans more into the absurd and strange, I started to appreciate it more. By the time the movie fully embraces its metaphor, I found it far more enjoyable, with the cinematic climax standing out as the highlight of the film. It was easily my favorite moment and arguably the most poignant part. While I can’t say I loved the movie as a whole, that particular scene was beautiful.

That said, no one can deny the strength of the performances. Ewan McGregor brought his A-game to the lead role, and Taylor Russell portrayed a gloriously enigmatic character who kept the mystery alive.

Our Grade: B-, At times a little too pretentious for its own good, this movie still has some enjoyable moments. It turned out to be far more interesting than the initial premise led me to believe.