The Greenhouse is a family drama with a soft horror feel. The narrative centres on oldest child of four, Beth and the relationship she shares with her parents, Ruth and Lillian.

Beth, played by Jane Watt, is still living at home with her recently widowed mother Ruth who is brilliantly played by Camilla Ah Kin. It’s obvious that there is a lot of pain in this house but they shuffle on.

One night, while in bed, Beth feels something calling her out in to the cool night air. She finds herself pulled to walk through a door in the greenhouse. She discovers that it leads in to her family’s past. After a few visits she discovers her mother has been visiting too but the doorway is beginning to feel increasingly dangerous. Does Beth give up what she loves about visiting the past or does she confront the secrets that she stumbles upon and reveal all to her siblings?

The Greenhouse is a movie that really makes you consider the emotional impact of grief on family ties and roles. When a parent dies and the other is left, often it is left to one child to become the emotional support for the parent more so than the rest of their siblings. Beth does this in her family while her brothers and sister chase careers and romance while they feel she has almost become a self-styled martyr. Beth is jealous of their liberty.

This film raises questions on how we mourn a person. It highlights the pain of what it is like to have a mother who weeps for their lost partner when they go to bed at night. The Greenhouse asks what it is like to watch a parent grieve while you do so yourself.

We spend our lives trying not to become our parents but somehow we have to become them so we can learn to care for them.

I really loved this film. The characters all had really, distinct and fleshed out personalities. I loved all their background stories. I enjoyed the sci- fi and horror elements as they really kept me guessing. I was desperate to know all the secrets and what was going on, but it was the family’s grief that was the real heartbeat of the movie.  I sobbed a lot.

The Greenhouse is a fantastically surreal yet emotional family drama that I highly recommend.

The Greenhouse will be streaming on Bohemia Euphoria soon. Click here to find out more.

Want more from Istoria Lit…?

The Movie List | 25 LGBTQ+ film favourites to enjoy while celebrating your Pride

Jump, Darling is a sparkling, unusual, dark comedy with a tender family story at its heart |BFI FLARE 2021

The Movie List: 30 days of Science Fiction Cinema – These are the sci-fi films you were looking for…

The Movie List: The 31 days of Horror Cinematic Challenge