Yes, you can (technically) toast with water!
Father Mother Sister Brother is a witty exploration of family ties, estrangement, and the paradox of loving people you barely know.
Father Mother Sister Brother is an anthology film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, divided into three chapters: Father, Mother, and Sister Brother.
I haven’t seen much of Jarmusch’s filmography, but his style has always intrigued me. Like in Night on Earth (1991) and Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), his new characters drift between cars, cafés, and conversations over tea, water, or coffee. I particularly love when he works in anthology form — it feels like a set of short films bound together by recurring actors, motifs, and visual details. Father Mother Sister Brother carries that same charm. I had a lot of fun with it, and the camerawork and colour palette were exquisite.
What struck me most is how each chapter has its own tone and visual rhythm. Father is shot in pale, wintry hues that match its chilly family dynamic, while Mother wraps its strained afternoon tea in warm, amber lighting that feels cosy yet suffocating. Sister Brother, by contrast, is restless and urban, with a looser camera that follows the siblings through Paris as though trying to catch up with them. The anthology may be fragmented, but Jarmusch stitches it together through repetition — the rituals of toasts, tea, an uncle named Robert (or Bob), and small talk that expose just how little these families actually connect.
FATHER
“Is it okay to toast with water, though?”
The film opens with Father (Tom Waits) being visited by his children, Jeff (Adam Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik). From the start, it’s clear they’re not close — Emily even admits she hasn’t seen him in two years.
Their reunion is painfully awkward, which makes it oddly funny. Waits leans into this discomfort brilliantly, and Driver plays Jeff with a quiet stiffness that contrasts with Bialik’s nervous energy. At one point, Father raises a toast to “family relations,” which is hilarious precisely because they don’t seem to have one.
The chapter closes with a moment that had the audience laughing out loud, while still underlining a sobering truth: being related doesn’t mean you really know or trust someone.
MOTHER
“Shall I be mother?” — “You might as well start sometimes.”
This chapter follows Mother (Charlotte Rampling) as she prepares for her annual afternoon tea with her daughters — the only time they see her in person each year. Otherwise, their contact is reduced to occasional phone calls.
Timothea (Cate Blanchett) sets out for the gathering when her car breaks down, while Lilith (Vicky Krieps) drives there, chatting with her girlfriend about their family’s distance. Despite moving to Dublin to be closer, the sisters still only visit once a year.
The atmosphere between them is strangely formal. They get along, but it feels like a polite interaction rather than genuine intimacy. Mother, an elegant and successful writer, seems more performative than maternal; Lilith projects a picture-perfect life, while Timothea appears fragile and solitary. The film never spells out the reasons for their estrangement, but the silences are telling. Their tea ritual, punctuated by the repeated line “Shall I be mother? You might as well start sometimes,” becomes less about affection and more about habit.
SISTER BROTHER
“And Bob’s your uncle!”
The final chapter is the most fully realised, almost a short film in itself. It follows a brother and sister wandering through Paris after their parents’ death, moving between a dealer’s flat, a café, their parents’ apartment, and a storage unit. Although slightly longer than necessary, it remains engaging and effectively unites the anthology thematically. It’s also the most tender segment — a reminder that grief can bring siblings together.
Ultimately, Father Mother Sister Brother is a witty exploration of family ties, estrangement, and the paradox of loving people you barely know. The performances are strong, with Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, and Vicky Krieps (and Tom Waits) being my personal highlights of the film.
Watching it made me reflect on my own family. I’ve never experienced this kind of distance — when I go back to my parents’ house, I feel at home, and across generations, we’ve stayed close. Seeing these families so cut off from one another made me both grateful for what I have and a little uneasy, wondering how fragile those bonds can be.
Father Mother Sister Brother premiered at the Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2025, and will be released later this year by MUBI.
Photo: MUBI
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