critics consensus

Mrs. Lowry & Son brings a pair of outstanding actors together -- and tests the limits of how much two performances can do to enliven a substandard script. Read critic reviews

Show all services

Rate And Review

Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer
Step 2 of 2

How did you buy your ticket?

Let's get your review verified.
Fandango

AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew

Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info

Cinemark Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Regal Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.
Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

Awesome!

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)
How did you buy your ticket?
- Fandango
- AMCTheatres.com or AMC AppNew
  
  Enter your Ticket Confirmation# located in your email.More Info
- Cinemark Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Regal Coming Soon
  
  We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.
- Theater box office or somewhere else
By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.
You haven’t finished your review yet, want to submit as-is?

You can always edit your review after.
Are you sure?

Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers.
Want to submit changes to your review before closing?

Mrs. Lowry & Son Videos

Mrs. Lowry & Son: Trailer 1

View All Videos (1)

Mrs. Lowry & Son Photos

View All Photos (14)

Movie Info

British artist L.S. Lowry pursues his creative goals while living with his overbearing, bitter and bedridden mother.

Genre:

drama, biography
Original Language:

English (United Kingdom)
Director:

Adrian Noble
Writer:

Martyn Hesford
Release Date (Theaters):

Nov 1, 2019 limited
Release Date (Streaming):

Jan 7, 2020
Runtime:

1h 32m
Production Co:

Genesis Studios, Library Films
Aspect Ratio:

Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

Vanessa Redgrave
Elizabeth Lowry

Timothy Spall
L.S. Lowry

Stephen Lord
Mr. Stanhope

Adrian Noble
Director

Martyn Hesford
Screenwriter

News & Interviews for Mrs. Lowry & Son

Terminator: Dark Fate Is a Solid Reset

The Indie Fresh List: A Military Thriller and Two Feature Debuts Lead the Way

View All

Critic Reviews for Mrs. Lowry & Son

All Critics (37) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (14)

Both actors give this bed-bound script their all and their jousting is enjoyable if you like other people's pain.

November 27, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Paul Byrnes
Sydney Morning Herald
If often sad and unsettling, the film is also livelier and less oppressive than it may sound thanks to the fine writing, deft direction by Adrian Noble, and the superb, if painful interplay between Redgrave and Spall.

November 1, 2019 | Full Review…

Gary Goldstein
Los Angeles Times
A one-note and strangely listless work that brings together two of the most immensely talented actors working today.

November 1, 2019 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

Peter Sobczynski
RogerEbert.com
Both Spall and Redgrave feel stifled and stiff-jointed, hemmed in by a thin, shallow-focus script that betrays its origins as a radio play all too easily.

October 31, 2019 | Full Review…

Guy Lodge
Variety
The script, by Martyn Hesford, gets bogged down in repetition. And Adrian Noble's direction leans too heavily on a score that is as frilly and prim as one of Mrs Lowry's lace doilies.

September 1, 2019 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Wendy Ide
Observer (UK)
Within three or four short exchanges she establishes Mrs Lowry as one of the great maternal monsters of cinema, up there with Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest or Piper Laurie in Carrie.

August 31, 2019 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Kevin Maher
Times (UK)
Simple but savory reflections on art. [Full review in Spanish]

February 8, 2021 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Carlos Marañón
Cinemanía (Spain)
Much of the movie plays out in the mother's bedchamber, a metaphor for the stultifying emotional confines of an existence relieved intermittently by the pleasure of making art.

June 17, 2020 | Full Review…

Sura Wood
Bay Area Reporter
A fascinating if sometimes repetitive account of an emotionally abusive relationship between mother and son. The outdoor scenes that reference Lowry's paintings lighten the claustrophobia.

January 21, 2020 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Sarah Cartland
Caution Spoilers
Martyn Hesford adapts his play for the screen with this very stagey and often uneasy two-hander, notable for fine work from Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Spall...

December 3, 2019 | Rating: 7/10 | Full Review…

David 'Mad Dog' Bradley
Adelaide Review
Timothy Spall's performance is a sterling study of understatement and pent-up frustration opposite a bed-bound Venessa Redgrave, who plays his domineering, ego-crushing horror of a mother.

November 28, 2019 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Jim Schembri
3AW
...has a small canvas (sorry), and it suffers from a certain determined ordinariness, but it is affecting in other ways.

November 27, 2019 | Rating: 16/20 | Full Review…

Julian Wood
FILMINK (Australia)