And somehow, coming from such illustrious parents, it should be no surprise Anders came up with such a touching, beautiful script — yet incredible talent at such a young age still remains the stuff of legends for me.
I know, I know. Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Anaïs Nin all probably wrote entries just as beautifully in their teenage diaries as they penned books as adults for their best known oeuvre. Still, there are those who argue that great writing is also a work of experiences lived, loss, successes and at 18, do we have all we need to write something deep and emotionally resonant?
Well, if you are Joe Anders, Kate Winslet’s son, but also Sam Mendes’ offspring, it seems the answer is a loud, fat, resounding YES! In his first script, thought up while he attended a screenwriting course at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England, he finds the joy within saying our last goodbyes to a loved one and, in the process, creates a roadmap for all of us who have people we love in the twilight years of their life to follow. Anders was inspired by the loss of his grandmother, Winslet’s mom, in 2017 when he was just fourteen, and the rest, as they say, is cinematic history.
Goodbye June has been a groundbreaking watch for me. Gone is the angst of what I will do when that day of reckoning with their loss comes. Instead substituted by the great idea of giving them, those who are on their way out of this world, a beautiful, meaningful and perfectly light goodbye. Death, in Goodbye June, is as much about those who remain, as it is about the great sendoff we should prepare for those about to leave this world. It’s such a beautiful concept, I’ve found myself kinder and more thoughtful around my own elder loved one since watching the film.
Joe Anders and Kate Winslet at the London premiere of ‘Goodbye June’
In Goodbye June, Anders is helped in telling his story by a great director, one who always was waiting to burst onto the scene with her talent and vision. I’m talking obviously about his own mom, beloved British star Kate Winslet who, while keeping us spellbound in her turns in front of the camera, was observing filmmakers on sets, taking in all their cues and missed steps, and managed to groom herself into a masterful helmer. One who makes out of Anders’ story something touching, free of sentimentality and commonplace emotions.
I loved Goodbye June, from beginning to end, and am waiting until December 24th to share it with my own mom, another lover of great films and the person who taught me everything there is to know about cinema. On that date the film, which is in select theaters in the UK and the US now, will premiere on Netflix. And not a moment too soon if you ask me!
June, played by the ever magnificent Helen Mirren, is a mother and grandmother battling cancer, who is reaching the end of her journey here on earth. She is surrounded by loved ones, including her hubby Bernie, played by Timothy Spall, and her four children Helen, Molly, Jerry and Julia, the latter played by Winslet herself. Between the successful, in life as in work, Julia and the controlling Molly, played by the spellbinding Andrea Riseborough, a long standing antagonism exists and they battle it out in tones of passive aggression. Then there is sweet Jerry, played subtly by actor and comedian Stephen Merchant, a mama’s boy in the best sense of the word, who seems to have sacrificed his own life and happiness to care for his elderly parents. And adding into the mix of this true ensemble cast of a film is Helen, played by Toni Collette as only she could. Helen offers a bit of comic relief, in this otherwise serious film about family coming together for their departing loved one. But her character never strays far from the warm confines of this story, which is all heart and no audience manipulation. Helen could easily have become a cartoon of itself, and in Winslet’s hand, with Anders’ caring writing to back them up, Collette plays her as a charming misfit, one we can all identify with in our moments of airhead-ness.
While in the hospital, June is surrounded by her family, which also includes Molly’s hubby and kids, as well as Julia’s children, but also the NHS Nurse Angel, aptly named and played with beautiful sweetness by Fisayo Akinade. Nurse Angel also provides the family with a lesson in grace and it around his kindness that the story begins to soar and take flight. But you’ll have to watch it to believe it!
In handling this ensemble, with the various children of all ages and characters along with all the adult characters, Winslet shows her great talent — though I don’t like that word because it suggests something you’re born with. Instead, it’s clear that Winslet could have easily gone on to wow us as an actress, and maybe move into producing as she did with her previous film Lee, without ever needing to step behind the camera as a director. But her great insight, her many hours spent “getting ready and waiting” on the sets of the films she participated in as an actress, have turned her into a masterful helmer, because of her great observational skills and self assuredness. She is a smart, beautiful and extraordinary woman and that makes her a filmmaker to watch for me.
Helen Mirren and Winslet in ‘Goodbye June.’ Kimberley French/Netflix
All through Goodbye June, internal struggles are revealed along the way, long standing unresolved conflicts hashed out and fought over, and family dynamics are beautifully unfurled by a truly wondrous filmmaker working with an outstanding script.
If you are looking for the perfect holiday movie this year, Goodbye June has found you!
Lastly, at a special afternoon tea organized by Netflix, I got to speak with Winslet who is, in person, every bit the beauty and power she appears in her films. But she is also delicately pretty, something I hadn’t seen in actors lately, and was almost soap and water, with her short blonde hair pulled back when I met her. As we said goodbye to each other after a nice, leisurely chat about how she manages to be both in front and behind the camera in the film, and how she learned the biggest lessons from bad filmmakers — as in what not to do on set — I turned to her. “You look super elegant, by the way,” I whispered subtly, and she replied, without missing a beat, “it’s Zara, darling! Love Zara,” which was both a surprise and not really one. I’ve been shopping there more and more since I’ve been living in London because Zara here is like couture everywhere else. But affordable of course.
So, there you have it. Elegance, as this elusive word “talent” is not bought after all, one is born with it and Kate Winslet adds a new layer to a personal credo of mine. That if you are intelligent, confident and wise, then elegance is something you carry around yourself naturally, without ever trying too hard.
Watch Goodbye June now, at a cinema near you, or on Xmas eve on Netflix.
All images courtesy of Netflix.