Goodbye June review: New Netflix movie is a near flawless directorial debut for Kate Winslet — but you’ll cry your eyes out
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East Goodbye June a Christmas movie, or a movie that just has Christmas in it? I’m not sure – but what I do know is that you won’t be streaming a more tragically beautiful film this holiday season.
It’s quite a choice to release a film that follows the final days of a dying woman on Christmas Eve, but I understand why Netflix made this decision. If anything, the timing highlights the importance of hugging your loved ones a little tighter and never missing the opportunity to tell someone you love them.
Alongside June’s ailing husband, Bernie (Timothy Spall), the quartet’s job is to give June the best goodbye possible, despite a myriad of issues and long-standing grudges that make emotions run even higher than one might expect in such a scenario.
Reading these last two paragraphs may have made you think about your own family, whether specific people or a similar situation – and that’s one of the great strengths of Goodbye June. Our cast may be A-list, but here they are grounded, and their relatability helps deliver what sometimes feels more like a flying documentary than a drama.
The film is something of a family affair, off-screen as well as on-screen, and some more cynical critics might be tempted to label it a “baby nepo” creation (Winslet stars and directs and his son Joe Anders writes the screenplay). In fact, I think their family ties are a huge advantage here…and, thank goodness, Winslet is now (very successfully) trying her hand at directing.
Watching Goodbye June is like looking at my own past – and you might feel that too
Look on it
One of the greatest compliments you can pay an actor is that they fully embrace the role they are taking on. We’re not watching Helen Mirren play a dying grandmother here, we’re watching June die.
When I look at June, I see my own grandmother, who died two years ago in similar circumstances, surrounded by her family. Every detail takes me back there, from her haircut and cardigan to the pearl necklace and gold ring she can no longer wear.
In a way, I’m projecting here, because I wasn’t able to be there for my grandmother’s final moments — the peace that June and her family ultimately find is something I hope my own family did, too. But there is something universally relevant about June’s situation.
“Masterclass Mirren” (as I call her now) delivers a performance up there with The Queen — so it was a shock to learn during Winslet’s press tour that she had initially turned down the role, explaining that she never played characters with dementia or cancer. I’m so glad she broke her own rule for Winslet, and I really think they created something incredibly special.
There is a scene in Goodbye June where June is left alone in the hospital to sleep, and she turns to the window and finally allows herself to shed a few tears after showing courage to everyone. Mirren conveys vulnerability and traumatic catharsis utterly convincingly, in a scene that will resonate with any woman who has ever lain awake crying into the early hours because life has become too much (which is probably all of us).
It’s the little things – the family feuds, the petty bickering, the chaos of raising children and the sometimes overwhelming reality of simply existing – that make Goodbye June I feel so well balanced, even though I will never be able to watch it again at Christmas.
Whoever thought of Toni Colette for this movie needs a raise
What might surprise you given the film’s synopsis is how tenderly funny it is. Goodbye June East. Even in the darkest moments there are laughs, most often thanks to Spall and Riseborough.
The film’s casting is inspired on every level. Mirren is an obvious scorer, and Spall isn’t far behind her. If Winslet and Riseborough took a 23 and Me ancestry test and found out they were related, I wouldn’t be surprised – Julia and Molly are the most convincing siblings and you’ll absolutely believe their grudges really go back decades.
For me though, it’s Colette as Helen that is the most inspired inclusion. She gets the least amount of screen time, and casting an Australian as Winslet’s sister can’t have been an unconscious choice (no matter how good Colette is with accents). When his character is revealed as a chakra-aligned free spirit who emigrated to Florida to expand his practice, it all makes sense.
Helen is the ideal counterbalance to her sisters and provides some comfort to her lonely brother Connor. And, thanks to a B plot involving her, Goodbye June also examines late-life pregnancies, returning effortlessly to the idea of June’s memory enduring.
Anders’ script is utterly compelling and keenly observed, which is particularly impressive given his relative youth. You can choose from one of the Goodbye June launch and identify exactly which one you would be, thanks to its expertly drawn character portraits. That said, maybe there’s a little bit of all of that in us – we feel represented in Julia’s overwhelming sense of responsibility, Helen’s growing and all-consuming sense of fear, Connor’s alienation, or Molly’s frustration with the world around her.
Visually, there’s definitely a Netflix-specific feel to the film that’s becoming more and more noticeable in the platform’s content. In the context of a Christmas movie, I think it works, sort of like a really sad version of The holidays. But Winslet’s vision as a director elevates the film above the mundane; Although I hated being told that actors make the best writers and directors while studying for my master’s degree (I’m not an actor, and I’m sure non-actors in the industry are also tired of hearing it), she makes a compelling argument for that notion.
At this point, it probably goes without saying that you need to steel yourself to watch Goodbye Junebut you will be richly rewarded in return.
Watching people endure great pain, even if those people are fictional characters, asks us to think about what really matters in life, and it can be a deeply touching – and yes, consoling – experience.
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