Goodbye June (2025) Review

A dysfunctional family must come together when their mother June is coming to the end of her life, having to bring Christmas celebrations forward.

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In a rather chaotic opening scene we see June, Bernie and their son Connor having to react to to June collapsing and ending on taken to hospital. He then must contact his sisters Julia and Molly, who have not spoken to each other for many years. A third sister Helen is eventually contacted about the ill health of their mother.

After some denial about how bad June actually is, they all must accept that she actually won’t be leaving the hospital again. Within that the siblings must repair the relationships that have been broken over the years. Nothing about familes is straightforward or easy, that is an aspect of real life that this film really does manage to completely nail.

I am easily going to say that this is one of the most depressing films that I have ever watched. It felt way too real and close to home, especially given the UK setting and the way the hospital is in it. The directorial debut from Kate Winslet, brings out some strong cast performances with Helen Mirren and Timothy Spall both being fantastic. Johnny Flynn and Andrea Riseborough both being very impressive as well.

This was not a good choice of a film to watch on the evening of Christmas Day that is for sure! It will be one of those films that I won’t be watching for a second time as the subject matter is just too traumatic and something that each family will go through and therefore will not want to witness on screen.