Naman Shrestha
Written and helmed by John Carney, ‘Flora and Son’ is a musical comedy-drama movie that focuses on a single mother named Flora who struggles to bond with her estranged, rebellious son and petty thief, Max. When she is encouraged by the authorities to find a suitable hobby for Max in order to sway him away from the wrong path, she tries to generate interest in playing guitars by offering him a beat-up acoustic guitar and keeping him occupied.
With the help of a washed-up LA-based musician named Jeff, Flora and Max realize the transformative power of music while the former discovers that a piece of trash for someone can turn out to be the source of salvation for a family. While the complexity of a mother-son relationship and the powerful music keep the narrative flowing, the picturesque locations of Dublin, which is where the story is set, tend to spark some questions in the minds of the viewers. Thus, if you are interested in knowing where ‘Flora and Son’ was filmed, we have got you covered!
Flora and Son Filming Locations
‘Flora and Son’ was filmed in Ireland, specifically in County Dublin. As per reports, principal photography for the music film commenced in July 2022 and continued for a month or so, before wrapping up in August of the same year. So, without much ado, allow us to walk you through all the specific locations where Flora learns to play guitar and discovers the power of music in the Joseph Gordon-Levitt starrer!
County Dublin, Ireland
Almost all the pivotal sequences for ‘Flora and Son’ were lensed in Dublin, the capital of Ireland, and a province of Leinster lying on a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey. During the production process, the cast and crew, including Eve Hewson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, were spotted taping several key portions in and around Griffith Park, which is located between Glasnevin and Drumcondra, while Hewson was in possession of a guitar. The 19-acre park provides visitors with various amenities, such as picnic tables, pleasant riverside walks, lawn areas, an outdoor gym, and a playground.
In addition, the filming unit was also seen making the most of the locales of Dundrum Town Centre on Sandyford Road in the village of Dundrum as they shot some important scenes on location. The production team utilized the premise of two schools for the shooting of ‘Flora and Son.’ They are O’Connell Secondary School on Richmond Street North in the residential area of Drumcondra, which is on the Northside of Dublin, and another school located right outside the suburban coastal town of Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin.
The affluent inner suburbs of Rathmines and Ranelagh also served as a couple of prominent production locations for ‘Flora and Son,’ both of them situated on the Southside of Dublin. As far as the fun set stories are concerned, there were reportedly quite a few instances involving Eve Hewson, as the filmmaker John Carney gave some examples of it during a September 2023 interview with Collider. Carney stated, “There were definitely a couple of episodes, we would arrive on set, and myself and Eve would be a little bit like, ‘I’m a bit bored today. Let’s do it funny. Just for our own entertainment.What about tripping up and trying to go underneath the wall?'”
Carney further expanded, “There were certain scenes where, with Jack Reynor, her ex-husband, where she had to try and have poise, but didn’t because she’s the wounded woman coming back to drop the kid off or something, and she was very funny and very open to letting him have the scene and her playing the fool, and not have to try and get it back off him. There were numerous episodes, I think, where myself and Eve would look at each other and have a little code, which is like, ‘Do something funny. This scene needs something. We need to take the air out.’ She was really good at that.”
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