Four Mothers: On the red carpet with Darren Thornton and James McArdle at BFI Flare 2025
A story of love, compassion and navigating through difficult family dynamics, Four Mothers is written by brothers Colin Thornton and Darren Thornton. Inspired by their late mother, the two collaborated on writing the piece – an Irish-set remake of Italian filmmaker Gianni Di Gregorio’s Mid-August Lunch. The story follows James McArdle as Edvard, a struggling writer caring for his elderly mother, Alma, played by Fionnula Flanagan. Alma is unable to communicate after a recent stroke left her speechless. Meanwhile, three of Edvard’s friends, also bearing the caregiver roles for their respective mothers, take off on a holiday. They leave Edvard to look after all four women. A heartwarming tale highlighting the caregiver experience, Four Mothers is a timely release for Mother’s Day.
The Upcoming caught up with director Darren to discuss the collaboration with his brother on the film and their relationship’s impact on exploring the themes of Four Mothers. He also spoke about the takeaways and the importance of finding time to have those shared moments with their mother.
We also spoke to McArdle about the themes of the film. He highlighted the importance of carers and spoke about the audience’s reaction, specifically the feature’s impact and how that led to viewers also sharing their own experiences as caregivers.
Finally, the two brothers talked about caring for their mother and the parallels of her losing her voice with the character of Alma, other films that influenced the making of Four Mothers, and the tropes they wanted to explore in their filmmaking.
Mae Trumata
Four Mothers is released on 4th April 2025.
Read more reviews from our BFI Flare coverage here.
For further information about the event visit the BFI Flare website here.
Watch the trailer for Four Mothers here:
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