Mother, Couch
drama film, directed by Niclas Larssen

Mother, Couch is a 2023 comedy-drama film written and directed by Niclas Larsson. It is based on the 2020 Swedish novel Mamma i soffa by Jerker Virdborg. It stars Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans, Taylor Russell, Lara Flynn Boyle, Lake Bell, F. Murray Abraham, and Ellen Burstyn.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2023. It was released in the United States by Film Movement and Memory on July 5, 2024.
Premise
While attempting to leave a furniture store, an elderly matriarch suddenly decides to sit on one of the couches and stay there. Her three children come together, as well as the store owners, who all go through a mind-bending journey of self-discovery.
Cast
Ewan McGregor as David
Rhys Ifans as Gruffudd
Taylor Russell as Bella
Ellen Burstyn as Mother
Lara Flynn Boyle as Linda
F. Murray Abraham as Marcus / Marco
Lake Bell as Anne
Production
In July 2022, it was reported that Ellen Burstyn, Ewan McGregor, Taylor Russell, Rhys Ifans, Lara Flynn Boyle, Lake Bell, and F. Murray Abraham had signed on to star in Mother, Couch. Written and directed by Niclas Larsson in his feature film debut, it is an adaptation of the 2020 Swedish novel Mamma i soffa by Jerker Virdborg. Larsson said in an interview: "The book is very different from the film.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q121267739. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2023, 2020, 2024 and 2022.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mother, Couch” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.