Fireflies in the Garden

Michael (Ryan Reynolds) is a successful novelist, now working on an autobiographical novel about his family.  When he was a child, his domineering father Charles (Willem Dafoe) bullied and belittled him and his mother (Julia Roberts). In the present, Michael and his family converge after a tragedy.


A car accident has killed Michael's mother. Michael's little cousin Christopher believes he was the cause (he ran out into the street) and feels guilty. Charles continues to dominate the family, until he finds out about Michael's new novel.

In the past, Jane (Hayden Panatierre), Michael's young aunt, then a bit of a wild child, comes to live with the family, and stirs things up a little. She sees how Charles treats the family and bonds with and encourages young Michael.  As an adult, Jane (now played by Emily Watson) is now a mother and wife, and much more staid than her past would indicate.

Michael finds out secrets about his mother which confuses his loving opinion and remembrances of her, and also encourages Jane's children in some bad behavior during this time of tragedy. Eventually Charles feels remorseful about how he treated his wife and he and Michael reconcile.

Co-stars include Carrie-Anne Moss as Michael's ex-wife, and Ioan Gruffudd as a literary colleague of Michael's parents.

This film somehow felt autobiographical but the characters were not well-written. My issue is that many characters in the past had changed personalities in the present, with little indication of why.

Michael certainly has issues with his father, but in how the film plays out, they are not discussed in the past or present and Charles' remorse after his wife's death comes after absolutely no indication of any kindness or retribution on his part, so I did not see how he could care for anyone in the present; he had not earned my sympathy. Michael does not confront his father in any meaningful way to express his anger and pain, and for much of the film he is sullen and distant from him (and to the rest of the adults to some extent), so I did not find this portrayal enough for him and his father to reconcile.

The character of Jane grows up to be totally unlike what she was in the flashback, which was also unbelievable. As an adult she offers little support to Michael and comes off more as a nagging adult. Narratively, she should have been someone to sympathize with Michael and call back to some better moments in his life, rather than the film isolating Michael except through his bonding (somewhat) with the guilt-ridden Christopher.

The mother character is also a bit of a confusion. She is played as a dutiful wife who puts up with her husband's verbal and psychological abuse, ready to walk out during one instance of abuse to herself, but not at all ready to do the same for her son. Michael only sees her with love despite living in this family with her, and it only takes her indiscretion, rather than her lack of defense for him, for him to feel any anger towards her. And even then he forgives her easily for it.

In summary this film didn't offer anything original in the way of a character or a family story and relationships. The emotions felt false and the film trying to force them out of us.