Mother, Couch

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2:09

Mother, Couch

2024

1h 36m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

40%

Tomatometer

52 Reviews

33%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

The members of a dysfunctional family find themselves mysteriously trapped in an antiquated furniture store when their elderly matriarch (Ellen Burstyn) suddenly refuses to get up from one of the display couches. Reluctantly assembled, her three estranged children -- David (Ewan McGregor), Gruffudd (Rhys Ifans), and Linda (Lara Flynn Boyle) -- must figure out how to escape this bizarre predicament. With the help of the store managers, Marco & Marcus (F. Murray Abraham), and their daughter Bella (Taylor Russell) the siblings embark on a mind-bending odyssey that forces them to face life-altering truths about their own lives and upbringing. Boasting "sensational" performances from an "A-List cast" (Deadline), Mother, Couch marks director Niclas Larsson as "a major new voice breaking through in cinema" (Slash Film).

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Critics Consensus

Despite terrific performances, Mother, Couch is one of those finds that are hard to put together and never quite look like the picture on the box.

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Peter Rainer

FilmWeek (LAist)

08/03/2024

I'm not sure what's going on in this film, but it does grip you because the characters are well-defined and the acting is terrific.

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Gary Goldstein

Los Angeles Times

07/16/2024

From start to finish, it’s an original, wholly unpredictable experience. It’s also, by turns, gripping, provocative, head-scratching and disturbing, and is likely to divide viewers with its dreamlike ambitions and metaphorical musings.

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Daniella Mazzio

Chicago Reader

07/09/2024

Mother, Couch captures something real about family and aging, but it remains unsatisfactory.

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Louis Skye (Ronita Roy Mohan)

Women Write About Comics

Aug 20

Mother, Couch spends too much time with nothing happening. Conversations start but go nowhere. Everything is implied but nothing is confirmed... The ending comes out of nowhere and doesn’t feel at all earned. Worse, it resolves nothing!

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Dave Giannini

Geek Vibes Nation

Jul 19

3.5/10

Mother Couch has many minutes of unanswered promise. Despite quite good performances from McGregor, Burstyn, and Ifans, their words fall mostly to the wayside, as Larsson instead relies on mystery, odd cuts, and purposefully obtuse mysteries.

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Kathy Fennessy

Video Librarian Magazine

04/28/2025

3/5

Niclas Larsson’s first feature, after several shorts, isn’t a complete misfire, but it’s mainly for devoted Ewan McGregor fans, since none of the other characters register as strongly—not even the mother on the couch.

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Matt L.

@mattl Nov 30

The casting in the movie is sharp. The dialogue is really crisp and sharp. Had this been made as a straight up family drama it could have been a really good film. Instead it was created as a dream sequence surrealist art piece and it didn’t have to be. David Lynch is a master of the kind of film this movie wants to be and this film wasn’t directed by David Lynch.

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Liliput L

@RT66905541 05/18/2025

What i got from it was the couch being the metaphor for death. The other two siblings knew she was dying, and had accepted it. Ewan McGregor character hadn't. The mum was saying I can't leave the couch your way, but I will soon, my own way. My death. For me a tale of the mum letting the son know he has to accept her death is coming. I loved it.

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kpk k

@kpk01 03/15/2025

Good Actors and acting but plot was predictable in a macro sense with some quirks put in for effect. Could have been much more.

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Alan W

@PatronWong 11/24/2024

Nobody's heard of Mother, Couch! either, Niclas Larsson's adaptation of Mamma I Soffa, a 2020 Swedish novel by Jerker Virdborg, in which Ellen Burstyn plays the unnamed Mother who refuses to move from a couch in a furniture store in the middle of nowhere run by Taylor Russell's Bella and her father played by F. Murray Abraham. Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans and Lara Flynn Boyle play siblings who try to reason with her in this surreal/pretentious/underwhelming film which I cannot make heads nor tails of as to what it's really about. The cast deserves better and the payoff, if it's actually what I think it is, is not worth sitting 96mins for, even if I'm stuck on a plane. And it's never a good sign to have this much punctuation in a film title.

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Jonathan A

@JDawg22 10/19/2024

Sincere and unique, this movies cast and soundtrack along with its strange story made me really like the film. Unpredictable but grounded with genuine family drama and some bleak dark humor. Recommend checking it out.

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Andrei D

@RT74856639 10/04/2024

There's something here and McGregor tries but it lacks any real substance or horror

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Niclas Larsson

Director

Ewan McGregor

David

Rhys Ifans

Gruffudd

Taylor Russell

Bella

Ellen Burstyn

Mother

Lara Flynn Boyle

Linda

Mother, Couch: Exclusive Movie Clip - Linda's Arrival

1:26

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Mother, Couch: Trailer 1

2:09

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Synopsis

The members of a dysfunctional family find themselves mysteriously trapped in an antiquated furniture store when their elderly matriarch (Ellen Burstyn) suddenly refuses to get up from one of the display couches. Reluctantly assembled, her three estranged children -- David (Ewan McGregor), Gruffudd (Rhys Ifans), and Linda (Lara Flynn Boyle) -- must figure out how to escape this bizarre predicament. With the help of the store managers, Marco & Marcus (F. Murray Abraham), and their daughter Bella (Taylor Russell) the siblings embark on a mind-bending odyssey that forces them to face life-altering truths about their own lives and upbringing. Boasting "sensational" performances from an "A-List cast" (Deadline), Mother, Couch marks director Niclas Larsson as "a major new voice breaking through in cinema" (Slash Film).

Director: Niclas Larsson
Producer: Ella Bishop, Pau Suris, Alex Black, Sara Murphy
Screenwriter: Niclas Larsson
Distributor: Film Movement / Memory
Production Co: Fat City
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 5, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 13, 2024
Runtime: 1h 36m