Lilian T. Mehrel's Sweet, Funny Directorial Debut, Honeyjoon, with a Superb Amira Casar

HONEYJOON 

(Lilian T. Mehrel, 2025, USA/Portugal, 75 minutes) 

From the self-provided description of Lilian T. Mehrel's directorial debut, which involves a middle-aged mother, a thirtysomething daughter, and a handsome twentysomething man, I feared I wouldn't like it. The film could easily have been too cutesy or too sentimental, but it isn't either. 

Logline at the IMDb:

June and her Persian-British mom Lela travel to the romantic Azores for a grief anniversary, with contrasting ways of coping. A hot-and-deep surfer takes them on a tour as we surf the waves of life, loss, flirting - an unforgettable ride.

The gimmicky title wasn't a big selling point either, though it makes sense. In order to save money, June (Ayden Mayeri) books a honeymoon package for her and her mother--who was widowed a year ago--since there are no rules about the relationship status of paying couples. Granted, this leads to some gently humorous moments as the two single women find themselves surrounded by happy loving couples enjoying a romantic getaway.

The narcissistic, American-born June, who I found off-putting at first, seems well aware of her attractiveness, but some of that self-centeredness melts away during a trip to Portugal's Azores Islands with her Iranian-British therapist mother, Lela (Amira Casar, a one-time Catherine Breillat mainstay). 

Azores was meaningful to June's father, and it looks like a lovely place, not least because it hasn't yet been overtaken by tourists. The film itself could have come across as a tourist board commercial thanks to Inés Gowland's evocative cinematography, except Mehrel pays special attention to the island's cultural traditions and morés and not just the pretty scenery. 

During the trip, June gains new insights into her late father's life and into her mother's Persian-Kurdish heritage. Lela, for instance, is particularly inspired by Iran's "Woman, Life, Freedom" (Jin, Jiyan, Azadî) movement, because she grew up under a much more repressive regime. 

June has grown up at a different time and place, and hasn't always appreciated how far her mother has come to live as a sensual, self-possessed woman in the 21st-century. I would imagine that Mehrel is familiar with Casar's sexually explicit work for Breillat--Romance, Anatomy of Hell, and The Last Mistress--since she brings echoes of that background here, including a brief nude scene (in this case, it's the younger woman who remains mostly clothed).   

The two become three with the addition of João (José Condessa, from Pedro Almodóvar's Strange Way of Life, who brings a certain soulful quality to a comparatively small role), a tour guide, who isn't just part of the scenery. 

At its worst, his dialogue can be hackneyed, but he brings the requisite sincerity to his delivery. The women visit João's invitingly humble home and meet his gracious grandmother, and there's an unforced chemistry between the characters, whether they speak each other's language or not.

As an only child who has traveled abroad with a single mother, I found Honeyjoon relatable, regardless that I have no connection to Iran and have never, alas, been to Portugal. You can love someone, and still find them unbearable, and there's believable bickering between the women. One even goes missing at a certain point, which happened when I visited Tallin with my mom. She was there one minute, and then she wasn't. It's a long story, but we eventually reconnected. It's really scary to be in that situation.  

Mehrel's debut is a sweet and funny film that viewers of any gender could enjoy, not least since she doesn't demonize men in any way--though patriarchy lurks around the fringes--but women are likely to get more out of it. In that sense, it recalls Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light (which, admittedly, cuts deeper). In this case, the sisterhood isn't between three unrelated women, but between a mother and daughter learning to see each other clearly once it's just the two of them, free from the distractions of their day-to-day lives.  

I suspect there's a fair amount of Lilian T. Mehrel in June, since she took inspiration from the loss of her own beloved father, and you can feel her working through some of that grief. As she explains in the production notes, "When my beautiful, life-loving dad died, I wondered--could I ever really enjoy life again? Her film handily answers that question in the affirmative.  

Honeyjoon opens at SIFF Film Center on July 17. Writer, director, and coproducer Lilian T. Mehrel is scheduled to attend the opening night screening for a Q&A. Notably, Mehrel funded her $1 million film the same way David Fortune funded 2024's Color Book: by winning AT&T's Untold Stories, a collaboration between the company and Tribeca Festival. For my money, that's two terrific selections in a row. Images: Alliance of Women Film Journalists (Amira Casar and Ayden Mayeri), Pop Culture Press (Casar and Mayeri), and Tribeca Festival (Casar, Mayeri, and Condessa).