‘She ain’t heavy, she’s my mother…’
Grief is an odd thing. It hits everyone differently and often changes from day to day. Orphans explores the effect that grief has on a working-class Glaswegian family through the lens of toxic masculinity, cyclical violence and familial relationships. It’s an odd film, clearly greenlit on the back of the success of Trainspotting, but it’s a rewarding film nevertheless…
Following the death of an unseen matriarch, four very different siblings attempt to deal with the aftermath. Michael (Douglas Henshall), the most grounded of the quartet, settles onto a path of self-destruction that will take in hard drinking, stab wounds and kidnapping. Thomas (Gary Lewis), the hapless eldest son, spends the night guarding his mother’s corpse at the local church with limited success. Sheila (Rosemarie Stevenson), the only daughter, who is severely disabled, is abandoned and left to her own devices by her selfish brothers. Hot-headed youngest sibling John (Stephen McCole) chooses violence as a way to escape from his emotions.
Writer-director Peter Mullan may be best known as an accomplished character actor but this intensely personal film demonstrates that he has some filmmaking chops as well. Written shortly after the death of his own mother, Mullan has stated that each character represents a different aspect of his own grief. The result is a film that is tonally uneven, but often poignant. The relationships between each of the siblings feel lived in and authentic and the whole cast does a great job in bringing this strange fable to life. Henshall in particular is excellent in a multi-faceted performance and his intensity and quiet grief provide many of the film’s most affecting moments.
Orphans is an odd directorial debut from Mullen but it is a film that occasionally works as a jet-black comedy, a howl of anguish and a character study of working-class families. Worth seeking out.