The Christophers is a 2025 black comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ed Solomon. It stars Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, Jessica Gunning and James Corden. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025, and opens here at Luna cinemas and The Windsor on 4 June.
The Christophers plays like a one‑hander wrapped in a family drama, with (Sir) Ian McKellen — one of the last great British theatrical titans still working at full voltage — commanding the film with a performance so controlled and quietly forceful that it often feels like a stage play that has wandered, slightly dazed, onto a film set.
The story enters the art world from an odd, sideways angle: through the grubby opportunism of disaffected adult children circling their unwell father, Julian Sklar (McKellen), a 1960s Swingin’ London sensation (but now largely forgotten) to assess what his paintings are worth now and what they might be worth once he dies. The children (Jessica Gunning and James Corden) hire a talented artist acquaintance, Lori (Michaela Coel) to infiltrate their father’s studio to make the assessment and to touch up The Christophers while she’s at it. From that simple premise, the film opens up deeper questions about value, loyalty, and the moral elasticity of family.
But there’s more to Lori than appears at first sight. She and Julian have a past, of sorts, and it would be spoiling the movie if I were to tell you more.
McKellen is magnificent. He barely raises his voice, yet every silence is loaded; every pause feels like a withheld verdict. It’s a masterclass in the power of near‑stillness, the kind of performance only a lifetime on stage can produce.
The supporting cast holds their ground — Michaela Coen is sharp where needed, brittle where the script demands, and a photogenic presence in every scene — but the gravitational pull of the movie is entirely McKellen’s.
The world of the film is small, almost claustrophobic, which heightens the sense of watching a private reckoning unfold in real time. The skulduggery is never operatic; it’s the quieter, recognisable kind that ferments in families where love and resentment have been left unattended.
By the end, you’re left with the lingering question: what is anything worth — a painting, a relationship, a legacy — when the people closest to it can’t agree on its value?
I really enjoyed The Christophers. And the large preview audience at Luna Leederville last Saturday morning did too, applauding the film as soon as it ended. Always a good sign.
8/10.
Screening at Luna Leederville, Windsor Cinema, Luna on SX from 4 June.
*By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News
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