My Mother’s Wedding is a 2023 English comedy-drama directed by Kristin Scott Thomas (in her feature directorial debut) and co-written by Scott Thomas with her journalist husband John Micklethwait. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023 but was not released in the UK until last Friday, 29 May 2026: another film with a lengthy delay between world premiere and general release, this time almost certainly due to difficulties in securing distribution.

Sisters Katherine (Scarlett Johansson), Victoria (Sienna Miller) and Georgina (Emily Beecham) return to their family home to attend the wedding of their twice-widowed mother Diana (Kristin Scott Thomas), who is marrying Geoff Loveglove (James Fleet). Diana’s first two husbands were both Royal Navy pilots who died in action in their twenties: the first during the Falklands War, and the second in Bosnia.

There is an awful lot going on here: each of the daughters has her own significant sub-plot, the details of which I will not go into. Suffice to say I thought of everything, everywhere, all at once, and I do not mean the film – just the effect of the complexities of the plot attacking from so many angles.

It is loosely based, or at least inspired by, major events in Scott Thomas’s own life, and is clearly a very personal film. Perhaps somebody should have advised her that writing, directing and starring in your first feature, especially one so incredibly personal in its storytelling, is not a great idea. There are successful directors who have done everything in their first films, but they are few and far between: most either write or direct their first major feature, not both, and certainly starring in the film is a step too far (even Truffaut drew the line at that).

On the positive side, the scenery is very nice and the actors playing the three sisters, particularly Miller and Beecham, were excellent. However, the storytelling was baggy and confused and there was simply too much in there to do justice to anything; maybe this should have been the material for her first four films. In addition, the flashbacks were shown in Raymondbriggsesque (I made that word up) drawings which are rather twee and, after a very short time become very irritating. And before I forget, the sex scene is utterly ludicrous!

In conclusion, My Mother’s Wedding is a bad film. It is well-intentioned and straight from the heart, but ultimately lacking in the necessary creative control and discipline. Having said that, I think Scott Thomas will direct good films – she just needs to take a step back, direct someone else’s script, and stay behind the camera. That does not mean she should stop acting – I have always loved her work – but just not mix the two jobs together until she has found her directorial feet.