‘Goodbye June’ (2025) Netflix Movie Review - An Earnest, Mawkish, Good-Hearted Piffle

Joe Anders has a profound admiration for his mother, Kate Winslet. Just how deep is this love? It's so immense that he has crafted a film that reads like a heartfelt, oversized greeting card. Goodbye June, as the title suggests, is about June (Helen Mirren), who, when the movie begins, collapses in the kitchen, and when she's taken to the hospital, the doctors glumly declare that the cancer has spread in her body, which means she won't be alive for Christmas. June's children, grandchildren, and husband, then, start spending much of their time in the hospital, ensuring June feels loved, cherished, and admired. Anders, too, admires Winslet, and by allowing her to direct this material, he indicates that he values her. What Winslet brings to the table is her keen eye for drawing the best performances from actors. This shouldn't come as a surprise, considering Winslet herself is an excellent actor. She, naturally, understands the nuances of a good performance, which is why no one in Goodbye June comes across as an amateur. 

Winslet's strength, however, also becomes the source of a major disappointment. Since (I assume) she knows the value of good performances, why didn't she push her actors towards greatness? And boy, just take a look at this cast: Toni Collette, Helen Mirren, Andrea Riseborough, Timothy Spall. With names like these, Goodbye June should have been a treat for devotees of performance-driven cinema. Winslet, unfortunately, limits the range of emotions: everybody is confined to a mushy, puppy-dog role that strictly requires them to look depressed and adorable. Hence, after a while, it becomes almost impossible to distinguish one sad face from another. This leads to homogeneity in performance, which is matched by homogeneity in direction. Because Winslet fails to conjure a confident tone, the scenes look shaky and bland, and the rhythms feel monotonous. When Molly (Riseborough), irked by the clicking sound of a pen, screams at the doctor, you are not sure how to respond to this moment. Is the scene meant to be funny? Is that clicking sound supposed to ratchet up the tension? But you neither laugh nor do you experience a release when Molly loses her temper. 

Winslet reportedly used small microphones rather than traditional boom mics to create an intimate atmosphere between the actors. I am not sure whether this method actually worked, since the results are utterly impersonal. The only "intimacy" Winslet produces involves characters making sentimental expressions. Anders's script is inspired by Winslet's personal experience of the death of her mother to ovarian cancer. Anders borrows a real-life tragic event for his work, but fails to fill it with imagination. He sees his characters as cardboard cutouts who have no connection to the wider world. They have no memories, no history, and no experience beyond what is required for the plot. Anders also falters in his handling of conflict and drama. The tension he introduces between Molly and Julia (Winslet) feels purely instrumental—something inserted simply to be resolved—and the motivation for their enmity is quite feeble. As a result, it reads like Conflict Generator 101. Goodbye June ultimately comes with a halo behind its head, serving as an emotional cue—a cue that prompts the audience to smile through tears. For her directorial debut, Winslet takes the easy route to our hearts, but this earnest, mawkish, good-hearted piffle elicits no tears, only scorn. This personal project has no personality, no voice, no heart.

Final Score- [3.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times
Release Date: December 24, 2025, on Netflix.