Directed by Kate Winslet
Where & When: Landmark Theatres Sunset, West Hollywood, CA. December 16, 2025 4:20 PM
Available to stream now on Netflix
The extraordinary British actor, Kate Winslet has delivered many outstanding screen performances in such wide-ranging films as "Heavenly Creatures", "Sense and Sensibility", "Titanic", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "The Holiday" and "The Reader" which she would win the Academy Award for Best Actress. Now she has made the move to work behind the camera with her directorial debut, "Goodbye June". This comedic drama deals with a dysfunctional family who must come together to help their ailing matriarch through her difficult time. With a rich history of playing strong-willed, complicated characters and appearing in many indie and experimental cinema, it would be expected that Winslet eagerly wanted to take us on an unconventional journey into the lives of this unstable family. But "Goodbye June" is disappointingly trite and surprisingly timid, never pushing these anxious and eccentric characters far enough to the edge to make this family's story feel essential.
One morning, June (Helen Mirren) is boiling water to make tea. Having difficulty breathing, she collapses to the floor with her son, Connor (Johnny Flynn) rushing to get his mother to the hospital. With his doddering father, Bernie (Timothy Spall) in tow, Connor has the task of contacting his three older sisters; the career-oriented mother, Julia (Winslet) who is handling work and family while her husband is out of the country for his job; Molly (Andrea Riseborough), an overwhelmed, stay-at-home mother who has her kind but scattered husband (Stephen Merchant) on hand yet he isn't much help and Helen (Toni Collette), an unmarried, new-age spiritualist guiding on a retreat out of the country.
When they all arrive to the hospital, the doctors (Jeremy Swift, Raza Jaffrey) inform the family that June's cancer has aggressively returned and inoperable. Not given much time, the distraught family decides to make sure that June has at least one more special Christmas with her entire clan. But this holiday gathering will prove to be a challenge to pull off since Julia and Molly are barely speaking due to a long simmering tension between them. Connor begins to struggle with his life choices because of this latest crisis and Bernie is in denial to his wife's critical situation while June's health starts to rapidly decline.
Winslet decided to direct "Goodbye June" after reading the screenplay by Anders, who also happens to be her son with former husband, Sam Mendes, the acclaimed director of screen and stage. Not wanting to let this story be told by someone outside of the family, this film is based loosely on Anders' experiences coping with his maternal grandmother's ordeal with ovarian cancer. The script captures the trauma, fear and stress of an impending loss with considerate precision yet the characterizations are far too broad and uncompelling. But Winslet wisely assembled a starry cast of friends and colleagues to fill these roles, masterful talents that are more than capable of making these family members appealing and poignant, allowing for her first time in the director's chair to be slightly easier and helping to elevate the film in the process.
"Goodbye June" is a film filled with anguished emotions, watching a family trying to put aside their personal grievances towards each other in order to provide an united front in the face of tragedy. Yet the catharsis we are expecting doesn't feel well earned. When we discover what the actual conflict between the two feuding sisters is really about, the reason is far more exasperating than meaningful. And we don't know for sure that Connor had been struggling with his sexuality until literally the end of the movie although it was vaguely implied earlier during a quiet moment with his mother's nurse, aptly named Angel played by Fisayo Akinade.
Winslet is successful in creating a warm, lighthearted yet uneasy atmosphere with "Goodbye June". But there seems like there could have been a far darker and funnier movie at play, one with a few unexpected twists that might have made this family drama come across as more exhilarating and less formulaic.
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