‘North Star’ Review: Kristin Scott Thomas Gets Personal as She Tackles Family Dynamics and Loss in Directorial Debut Inspired by Her Own Life | Toronto

The absence of a parent in childhood or adulthood can be just as powerful and impactful as the presence of one. Losing multiple parents can be even more traumatizing, and it’s guaranteed to shape  the adults that children eventually become. In her directorial debut, Kristin Scott Thomas explores a scenario inspired by her own life: the loss of two father figures and the deep mark it has left on three adult sisters as they gather for their mother’s third wedding.

Victoria (Sienna Miller) and Katherine (Scarlett Johansson) lost their father, a Navy pilot, at a young age, just seven years before the service death of their stepfather, his best friend and a fellow pilot. This history comes up often, and also affects their younger half-sister Georgina (Emily Beecham), whose suffering was always diminished by those who felt worse for the girls who had lost two fathers. Reuniting decades later for the wedding of their mother Diana (Thomas) to a genuinely nice man dredges up their complex roots and the way in which living with those losses has impacted their own outlook on relationships.

This film centers on a family where getting along isn’t really the issue, but identity is crucial. Much emphasis is put on names, and past wounds are reopened when Diana tells her daughters that she is planning to take her new husband’s last name, a perceived slap in the face to the memory of their fathers. Katherine has very literally followed in their footsteps by enlisting and achieving a high rank in the Navy, while Victoria has fled her home country for an acting career abroad, and Georgina remains stuck in a marriage where she believes her already detestable husband may be cheating on her. None of them does well with the idea of romance or commitment, holding on to too much baggage to even determine what might make them happy.

Thomas’ first effort behind the camera feels very much like a modern-day Downton Abbey, cued by similarly gleeful orchestral music. It doesn’t go quite as near to melodrama, but remains in a place between lighthearted and serious. The film wisely avoids venerating or demonizing all fathers and husbands, but offers an enlightening perspective on how the flaws and failures of the dead are easily erased and forgotten. Black-and-white drawings of family members open the film and are interspersed a few times throughout it, signifying the fading memories Katherine has of her fathers and the longing she has to revisit a time before they were gone. 

Believing that these three women are indeed sisters is a crucial test of this film’s effectiveness, and that mostly works. Johansson’s English accent, while serviceable, is somewhat distracting due to the recognizably regional nature of many of the expressions that come out of Katherine’s mouth. Beecham plays up Georgina’s frustration with the world, resulting in a frenzied turn, while Miller is the most consistent of the three, painting Victoria as considering herself superior to the people she grew up with an attitude that doesn’t get her very far. Thomas has the most memorable scenes of the film when Diana takes the time to set her daughters straight and to appreciate what they do actually have.

North Star is a family drama that keeps its content relatively light and accessible, never truly peeling back anything too painful or resounding. These sisters and their mother have surely had similar encounters over the years and this is merely the culmination of all that since they are gaining a new stepfather, one they can choose to get to know since they’re now adults capable of forming their own relationships. As a film, it’s not extraordinary or groundbreaking, but the range of people and relationships represented suggests that everyone should be able to find an access point.

Grade: B

This review is from the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.