A One Mann’s Movies review of “Father Mother Sister Brother”. (2026, 3*, 15).
Although a celebrated movie auteur, I must admit to being a Jim Jarmusch virgin. Here he returns to a portmanteau approach with “Father Mother Sister Brother”: segments, discrete from each other but all loosely based around siblings meeting up again after a time apart to review broader family relationships.
From the title, you might assume that there are four segments: but in fact, there are only three, entitled “Father”; “Mother” and “Sister Brother”.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
A brother and sister reunite to visit their cranky old father living in the wilds of New Jersey; two very different sisters meet up at their mother’s house in Dublin for an annual, traditional tea-party; and a twin brother and sister reunite in Paris to process the emptying of their dead parent’s flat.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC website: “Strong language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore, Luka Sabbat, Françoise Lebrun.
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch.
Written by: Jim Jarmusch.
Running Time: 1h 50m.
Review:
Positives:
- Each of the three stories is deftly directed and enjoyable in its own right.
- Part 1: “Father”
- Probably the best segment, this sees Jeff (Adam Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik) ‘enjoying’ an uncomfortable afternoon with their difficult father (a very gravelly Tom Waits).
- There are so many uncomfortable silences that made me, as a viewer, visibly cringe in my seat! There’s some platitudes about grandkids etc…. but then long uncomfortable silences again! I expected Dad to get bored and pick up one of his copies of “Beaver Enthusiast” (LOL) that he has on the side table!
- I know I will upset my Antipodean film-guru-friend Ronnie Clements, of the ever-popular Screen Gems site, with this comment, but I’m afraid I don’t find Adam Driver a terribly convincing actor in most things he’s in. But I have to commend the casting of Driver with Mayim Bialik, since they really do look like brother and sister: it’s quite uncanny!
- Tom Waits also turns in a strong performance and there is a nicely under-played financial tension in the piece, where you feel that the wily old ‘Dad’ may not actually be as hard-up as he is portraying! He claims his Rolex is a fake: but is it really, or is this where the well and ‘wall-collapse’ money really went?!
- Part 2: “Mother”
- The second Dublin-based segment is also well acted, with the heavyweight trio comprising sisters Timothea (Cate Blanchett) and Lilith (Vicky Krieps) meeting up with their mother (Charlotte Rampling).
- Reflecting their very different personalities, Rampling is “Mum” to Lilith and “Mummy” to ‘Tim’, which is a nice touch. Tim is the staid, traditional one; Lilith is the naughty and often outspoken one. When Rampling goes to pour the tea and says “Shall I be mother”, Lilith is the one that snaps back “You might as well start sometime”. There’s a tension brewing underneath the genteel exterior here.
- The tight lipped and buttoned-up mother clearly also has a racier side, perhaps expressing repressed sexual desires: a prolific author (there are about four different hardbacks in the box sent by her publisher) have titles like “Reckless Moonlight”.
- The acting here is as good as you would expect with Krieps – always brilliant – being particularly electric with her bright pink hair! It’s a funny touch that the script has had her “living in Brussels” for a few years, that has clearly allowed her to pick up a bit of a non-Irish accent, LOL!
- As for Part 1, there is an underlying theme of financial deception going on, with Lilith trying (quite unsuccessfully in this case) to pull the wool over the eyes of both her sister and her mother.
- The camera hovers like a sword of Damocles over the tea-table, callously observing another awkward and spiky encounter.
- Part 3: “Brother Sister”
- The third Paris-based segment is perhaps the weakest of the three, moving away from the concept of kids visiting a single parent to kids visiting no parents at all. But it is still enjoyable.
- We see the good-looking twins Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat) winding their way through the Paris streets, picking up drugs; having a coffee; before they reach their final destination: the empty home where their now-dead parents used to live. During this trip they talk about their ‘psychic connection’ with each other (for example, one had a transatlantic perception when the other was micro-dosing drugs!).
- A sequence of the pair morosely sitting on the floor of their old but now empty family home, looking at the photos of the parents that they both clearly idolised, is quite touching.
- A final visit to a lock-up reveals where all of their parents belongings have been stored. Indeed, this also includes boxes of unopened contents from their grandparents house. And so ad infinitum… It’s like the ending of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” but for generations of family artefacts.
- Part 1: “Father”
- I enjoyed Dusty Springfield’s cover of “Spooky” over the opening titles and again played on an 8-Track tape deck near the end of the film.
Negatives:
- For me, there was no getting away from the fact that these were three short films, lightly glued together. The elements were good in their own right and engaging, but the piece still felt disjointed and overly ‘arty’ to me.
- The film has a number of motifs that keep reoccurring between the segments: a focus on tap water; comments about toasting without alcohol; skateboarders; “Bob’s Your Uncle”; star signs; Rolex watches that might – or might not – be knock-offs. These are almost used by Jarmusch as signposts to remind us viewers, per my point above, that we are actually watching a feature film. But, for me, they just ended up being a bit twee and annoying.
- At times, some of the camerawork felt oddly quirky. In episode 2, a discussion between Tim and Lilith is conducted with the tops of their heads off the screen: very odd. And some of the driving scenes felt like they used less than perfect back projection.
- I mean, it’s a small thing, but in terms of continuity in “Mother”, the camera’s focus on the tea table makes you realise that the cakes that the girls were previously eating are still there untouched at the end! Given they got the continuity noticeably right with a cyclist in the Paris driving scenes, it feels like an odd lapse.
Summary Thoughts:
Three good short films. As a portmanteau work, it was watchable but it failed to really thrill me.
Where to watch?
Nothing is available for this title in the Justwatch database.
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA07EmbZ0b0.
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