THE SON

[jo]

A late review ( presumably to coincide with the film release in January in the USA) --


A longtime and respected film blogger, Alex Billington of FIRST SHOWING.NET, writes a review which dovetails with the cinematic vision :

Venice 2022: Florian Zeller's 'The Son' Wants Us to Talk About This
by Alex Billington
September 7, 2022

The Son Review
We need to talk about The Son. This film is definitely a conversation starter, even more so than The Father. After winning two Oscars for his dementia drama The Father, talented French director Florian Zeller has returned with his follow-up - a film titled The Son. It's part of Zeller's trilogy about family and fragility and our connections with each other when things go wrong & times get tough. The Son premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival as a highly anticipated competition film, and it's worthy of this debut. It may not be as masterful as The Father, but it is a compelling, devastating, seriously captivating drama. I believe Zeller's point is to make us discuss the film - the whole thing is "we need to talk about this" and for the characters, that's very hard to do unfortunately; but for viewers the emotions and twists in the story will make you talk. It's impossible to not have something to say after this - good or bad, sad or happy, as long as you're honest.

Directed by Florian Zeller, from a screenplay written by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller (they both won a writing Oscar for The Father in 2020), adapted from Zeller's own play of the same name, the film is about a father attempting to reconnect with his son. Hugh Jackman stars as Peter, the father, a high class, well-paid lawyer working at a prestigious law firm in New York City. He is now married to Beth, played by Vanessa Kirby, for only a few years and together they a baby boy. He's always at work while she spends her time at home taking care of him. Peter's ex-wife is Kate, played by Laura Dern, and together they also have a teenage son named Nicholas, played by newcomer Zen McGrath. One day Nicholas tells his mother that he wants to see his dad and move in with him. While busy with work, Peter reluctantly agrees, setting in motion a chain of events that will change their lives forever. It's a hard-hitting story about parents and how it's important to stop & listen to your children when something is wrong and they need you more than ever.

Zeller's two feature films so far all have a very natural, intimate storytelling sense to them. They certainly feel like they come from the stage, which is exactly where they did originate, but the cinematic vibe is based around the performances and the way the story flows. Most conversations take place inside of apartments or in conference rooms, rarely on the street. Even when Nicholas goes for long, meandering walks around New York City, Peter never catches up with him outside for a talk or otherwise. The Son is not as immersive and mindful as The Father, it's captivating and heartfelt in its own way. The focus in this one is mental health - specifically with Nicholas' struggles and how his father is unable to help him. There's also a bit of context built in about how Peter's own father, played by Anthony Hopkins, is a careless narcissistic grump and sadly this is being passed down from generation to generation. As much as Peter wants to free himself from this burden and act differently, he just can't help himself. A cautionary tale for audiences to be mindful of.

Jackman, McGrath, and Dern are all excellent. The film gets intense at times showing how a bad father can screw up everything and what NOT to do as a parent – how they need to listen more, open up more. It's so hard to let people heal and let people be themselves. Even with a few flaws, even if you hate the film or don't like the story or where it goes, it's well-crafted and smart enough to create a conversation – to get us talking. Being upset about this scene or that moment is actually part of Zeller's plan as a filmmaker, encouraging us to examine our honest feelings. There's a key moment in this where anyone watching will feel overwhelmed by a decision that must be made. The film makes one choice, leading us down one path, but it's also worth discussing whether the other path would've worked out. I just hope The Son is a beneficial film, a guide for some folks, despite the heaviness of it all. That's the best result for this, that's the best the film can achieve.

Alex's Venice 2022 Rating: 8 out of 10

[jo]

And from the Isabelle Hupert!

Reported by Variety --

HOME
FILM
GLOBAL
Jan 11, 2023 5:01am PT

Isabelle Huppert Raves About Hugh Jackman’s Performance in Florian Zeller’s ‘Deeply Moving and Terrifying’ Oscar Hopeful ‘The Son’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Elsa Keslassy

Plus Icon
Isabelle Huppert, Florian Zeller
Sebastien Cauchon

Revered French actor Isabelle Huppert raved about Hugh Jackman’s performance in “The Son,” Florian Zeller’s Oscar hopeful, during a private event for Academy voters hosted by the movie’s French distribution banner Orange Studio at the Royal Monceau in Paris.

Huppert, who previously collaborated with Zeller on his play “The Mother” which she played in English in New York in 2019, reacted to “The Son” minutes after watching the movie at the screening event.

“(Hugh Jackman) is really extraordinary. The film gives almost more of an insight into his inner journey than into his son’s,” said Huppert, who seemed moved.


“He’s all at the same time completely helpless and… In that extraordinary scene with Anthony Hopkins he embodies so well this link in the chain, both strong and weak, between the past, the present, and the future,” Huppert continued.

The Sony Pictures Classics movie revolves around Peter (Jackman) whose busy life with new partner Emma (Vanessa Kirby) and their baby is thrown into disarray when his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) turns up with their teenage son, Nicholas. The young man is going through a depression and has been skipping school for months. Peter strives to be a better father, searching to help his son with those intimate and instinctive moments of family happiness. But the weight of Nicholas’ condition sets the family on a dangerous course. Hopkins has small but meaningful part in “The Son,” playing another paternal figural.

Written in 2019, “The Son” marks Zeller’s most personal work. Dedicated to his own son, the film part of a trilogy of plays, including “The Mother” and “The Father,” that have been performed around the world. All three plays explore the resilient bonds that link families together with an emotional brutality that Zeller is able to capture through his close relationships with actors.

Zeller said he formed an intimate connection with Jackman from the very start of their work together. While he had not penned the part with Jackman in mind, as he did with Hopkins for “The Father,” Zeller felt compelled to offer the role to the Australian actor minutes after listening to him talk about what the project meant to him.

“Hugh created that intimacy in quite a unique way. He wrote me a letter, telling me that… Well, he’d heard that I’d been working on adapting the play, ‘The Son’ (…) and said that if I was talking to another actor, I should forget his letter, but that if I wasn’t, he’d like ten minutes to explain why he should have that role.”

“After a few minutes, I offered him the part, because I sensed something in him… who understood what it was about, who had those emotions. So I had the feeling that this was a chance, or an opportunity, for us to explore, together, something deep and buried and secret. Something true,” Zeller explained.

“It wasn’t the actor explaining to me why this part interested him. I felt it was more the man, as a father or a son, who felt a connection to this story,” added the filmmaker, who recently moved to Los Angeles with his family and launched a production company Blue Mornings Pictures with former CAA executive Federica Sainte-Rose and Mediawan (Plan B’s new parent company).

Along with John Patrick Shanley, Aaron Sorkin and Martin McDonagh, Zeller is a rare playwright who succeeded in making the transition from stage to screen.

As in “The Father,” which earned Hopkins an Oscar, Zeller didn’t want actors to rehearse important scenes so that he could capture their rawness and intensity. Zeller said he tried to lead Jackman to a place where he was “prevented from manufacturing a character.”



Huppert, who earned an Oscar nomination with Paul Verhoeven’s thought provoking “Elle,” said could relate to Zeller’s directorial approach and ultimate quest for authenticity. “I think that’s the only way… It’s almost the most comfortable way, the surest way, to attain the greatest authenticity without worrying too much about it, without asking pointless questions, whereby you end up creating a character with all kinds of meanderings, which lead you away from the heart of the work, and the pleasure of acting.”

“It gives you access to the person, not just the character. And that, obviously, is what every actor would like, to be able to connect in the most intimate way with a character. That’s what I see with Hugh Jackman,” Huppert continued.

Huppert said she had a blast playing “The Mother” in New York and praised Zeller’s body of work. “It really is extraordinarily written for the actors. It explores themes that are extremely precise, and very painful, hard to face in real life and in fiction,” she said. Huppert’s performance “The Mother” earned critical acclaim and marked one of her best reviewed stage performances.

“(Florian Zeller) always hands us these characters, and stories that everyone can relate to (…) Deep down, in family life, or just in life, there’s always the spectre of suffering, of the difficulties of life, of the efforts we all make so that the people we love are as happy as possible,” said Huppert, who is close to her daughter Lolita Chammah, a well-known actor herself. They’re even starring together in Michele Placido’s latest film “L’ombra di Caravaggio,” a 17th century-set drama which just came out in French theaters.

Although she had already seen the play in Paris and knew the storyline, Huppert said the film adaptation was “deeply moving” but also “terrifying,” because it “gives you the possibility to reflect and analyse.”

Huppert said it was another “particularity of Florian’s writing, that we don’t get completely submerged by the drama,” at least not until the very end, and that “leaves us the possibility to reflect, analyse and understand, which makes it all the more terrifying.”

While it’s highly unlikely that Zeller will go on to adapt “The Mother” for the bigscreen, seeing the pair reunite for a film project in a near future is a plausible scenario.

“As I’ve said quite sincerely, I have so much admiration for Isabelle that I really hope we will work together,” Zeller said.

Hearing those words, Huppert looked at him with a large smile and said, quietly, with her legendary aplomb, “We will.”

Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (French: [izabɛl ypɛʁ]; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world",[1][2] she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality.[3] She is the recipient of several accolades, including two César Awards, five Lumières Awards, a BAFTA Award, three European Film Awards two Berlin International Film Festival, three Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival honors, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award nomination; in 2020, The New York Times ranked her second on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century.[4]

[jo]

variety.com/2023/film/actors/hugh-jackman-paul-mescal-parenthood-1235484782

Variety

ACTORS
Jan 12, 2023 10:00am PT
Actors from Hugh Jackman to Paul Mescal Talk Portraying Parenthood on Film
Films like "To Leslie" and "Armageddon Time" portray the joys and grief of family bonds


By Thelma Adams

A father attempts to save his suicidal son. An alcoholic mother tries to reunite with the child she abandoned for the bottle. An obese dad rallies for a final connection with his estranged daughter. From “The Son” to “To Leslie” to “The Whale,” this year’s acting contenders find powerful challenges channeling the volcanic emotions — grief, anger, shame, love — that bind one generation to the next.

Powerful and complicated family feelings extend across genre, gender, race and class, whether it’s “Till,” in which Danielle Deadwyler’s mother becomes a political activist propelled by her son’s lynching; or “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in which Angela Bassett’s matriarch is an exemplar of mourning to keep her people united. They upend the future artist cracked by his parents’ divorce in “The Fabelmans,” they radicalize the abused mothers and daughters in “Women Talking” and entangle Gabrielle Union’s homophobic mother in “The Inspection.”



Variety talked to five acting contenders drawn to the intensity of their parent-characters, starting with Hugh Jackman. In “The Son,” he plays Peter, a father whose teenager is spiraling emotionally. Jackman tells Variety: “It’s said in the movie ‘love isn’t always enough.’ Peter is trying desperately to connect with his older son, but is afraid to look at himself in the mirror …. He’s realizing he’s repeating mistakes his own father made. Sadly, this is a cautionary tale.”

This was one of “the most difficult shoots of my career,” Jackman says. In the script, Peter and his ex-wife visit their son at a mental ward after a suicide attempt.

The traumatized father makes the kind of decision that no parent should ever have to make, with drastic repercussions.

A personal crisis catalyzed his extreme emotions on the shoot. “I’d lost my father a few days prior to filming that [hospital] scene. I felt him in the room that day … somehow it comforted me, knowing he was there too. My emotions were raw. It didn’t take a lot for me to cry.”

More...

[jo]

Wow!

The AMPAS(Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) social media outlet (@theacademy) finally features Hugh Jackman in a very long article on his portrayal in THE SON!
Are they doing this for all the potential nominees? Is Hugh being cited as one of the stronger candidates?

Voting for the nominations has just started - maybe this is a reminder on the artistic accomplishments of the possible candidates?

Crossing my fingers!

With 'The Son,' Hugh Jackman Learned to Give Up Control and Feels Forever Changed (Exclusive)

Jan 11, 2023

The writer-director Florian Zeller offered Hugh Jackman the lead in his movie within seven minutes of meeting him.

For Jackman, the offer came as a surprise, even if it was exactly what he'd been actively chasing. Jackman and Zeller nearly worked together once before, years ago, when the latter was staging a production of his play, The Truth. "But the timing didn't work out," the actor reflects. This was before Zeller made his film debut with 2020's The Father, adapted from his play of the same name, which went on to receive six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and win two Oscars (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins). "That film floored me on every level," Jackman says. "So, I chased him down."

Jackman learned that Zeller was set to adapt another one of his stage shows for the screen, The Son, a family drama about divorced parents struggling to deal with their teenage son's depression. The actor sought out a copy of the play and, "A third of the way through, in my gut, I was like, 'I've got to do this.'" Jackson was so set on it that he did something that went against all of his actorly manners: He sent an email to Zeller pitching himself for the part. "I said, 'If you're dancing with somebody else, I'm not the kind of guy to cut in on a dance, so good luck and I wish you all the best. But, if you're not, I want to play the part.'"

Zeller wrote back within the hour saying that he wasn't in talks with any other actors, and that he'd like to set up a meeting. The next day, they met on Zoom, as is customary in these times. "I had equal parts fear of getting the part and not getting the part," Jackman remembers, "which is always a good sign."

"And I would say a minute into that conversation, small talk was gone. We started talking very deeply about our lives, our personal lives, our professional lives, our hopes, our artistic dreams. And I think it became clear to him that, at this point in my life, I was really ready to take on a part like this," Jackman tells A.frame. And then, seven minutes into the call, "Florian just said, 'Stop, stop, stop,' as Florian often does. And I said, 'Everything all right?' He goes, 'I want you to play the part. You are Peter.'"


Director Florian Zeller and Hugh Jackman on set of 'The Son.'
The Son arrives exactly a decade after Jackman earned his first Oscar nomination for his performance as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. By that point in his career, the Aussie actor was already a bona fide movie star, having broken through as Wolverine in 2000's X-Men (a role he would reprise nine times over the years, with a 10th forthcoming), and was equally acclaimed for his work on stage. Les Mis combined his two loves for a career-best turn as the heroic Jean Valjean, the epitome of the redemptive power of compassion and love.

"I'm more confident as an actor, I think," Jackman says now of how the past 10 years have changed him as an actor. "Weirdly, how that confidence manifests is I'm more open to letting go... I guess it's control, ultimately. Letting go of control."

In The Son, Jackman plays Peter Miller, a high-flying lawyer on the verge of achieving his dream job and the model of a family man, a loving husband to his new partner, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and doting father to their infant son. When his ex-wife, Kate (Laura Dern), who Peter left for Beth years prior, shows up at his door unannounced, she asks for help with their 17-year-old son, Nicholas (newcomer Zen McGrath): Nicholas has been missing school for weeks on end, bears the scars of self-harm, and often despairs that life is too much for him. When Peter steps in, in an attempt to give Nicholas the sort of love and guidance that he never felt he got from his own father (played by Anthony Hopkins), he finds himself losing more and more control over both his son and his life.

"Coming out of the pandemic, I'd had a lot of time to myself to reflect and digest my own upbringing, and obviously, I spent a lot of time with family," Jackman says. "When I read this script, I resonated with this idea that trauma is passed down unwittingly from generation to generation, that it rips through the family like a wildfire. And the actual ability to stop and raise your hands to that wildfire is monumental. It takes great courage and it takes wisdom, and it takes help. Because, otherwise, you just unconsciously find yourself being the bridge between that trauma, and it gets passed down."

"I'm not playing the character or thinking about the character, but whatever was working within me through that part, I feel it still working through me. I'm still making sense of it."

On set, Jackman found himself having to let go more than ever before. Although Zeller, like Jackman, comes from the theater, the filmmaker made the deliberate choice to forgo rehearsals with his cast. "He said, 'I have no interest in anybody watching the monitor or reviewing things. We're going to go with our gut, and then, we just keep filming until we've got it. And we'll only know we've got it when we've got it,'" recounts Jackman.

"The actors were a bit unnerved when I told them we weren't going to rehearse, but to me, it was really, really important," explains Zeller. "It was not about performing for the sake of performing; it was about discovering in the now on set. It was about leaving room to be overwhelmed by the emotions. I cast the film on the basis that these actors had a deep, secret connection to the story — not only as actors but as fathers, and sons, and mothers. I wanted to catch those truthful connections to the story, and my way to do it was to not rehearse at all."

Jackman intrinsically understood the challenges he would face as an actor on The Son, needing to be present and raw even as the scenes became more and more emotionally-demanding. And, as the tide rises around Peter, the actor knew, too, that he had to get out of his own head and trust his director would help guide his performance. "It was more important for me to be emotionally truthful than to try to moderate or pitch my performance in a certain way," Jackson says. "I know the culmination of feelings that are like a volcano that you just can't stop. And because I know it, I would know if I was doing it badly. It's not something you can B.S. You have to feel it. And it's not a comfortable place to go. And I think part of me was always like, 'I know where I have to be, and I'll know if I haven't got there.' That's the frightening part."

What he perhaps didn't anticipate is the toll going to such places would have on him as a person.

"I was a hot mess during it, I really was. I wasn't sleeping," he recalls with wide-eyed incredulity. "I leant on my director, and I leant on the other actors and the crew. They had psychiatrists available for every single person on this, because it was very traumatic and triggering. I kept a journal, which I still do, and it doesn't feel like I've left it. I'm not playing the character or thinking about the character, but whatever was working within me through that part, I feel it still working through me. I'm still making sense of it. Particularly now, as we promote it and I get out and talk about it, things are clearer to me than they were at the time. But I don't really know if I'm done with it yet."


Ahead of The Son's premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, Jackman saw the film for the first time at a screening in New York City one Sunday morning last Fall. "I took my son and daughter, my son's girlfriend, and my wife," he shares. (Jackman is married to Deborra-Lee Furness, with whom he has son Oscar and daughter Ava.) "My wife is very chatty, so we got into the car and my wife is saying to the kids, 'So, what do you think, guys? What do you think? What do you think?' And, by the way, we'd sat in the cinema for 10 minutes, just sitting there. Now, 'What do you think? What do you think?' And my son said it best. He goes, 'I'm going to need 24 hours.'"

"It actually wasn't that long," Jackman grins. The actor left his family for a matinee performance of The Music Man, in which he's starred as Professor Harold Hill since the revival opened on Broadway in early 2022, but returned home that night. "And we sat at the dinner table for two hours talking all about it," he relays. "What's fascinating to me is my 22- and 17-year-old totally want to have those conversations. They're not sheepish at all about it. My generation, it's more secretive. It's more awkward. It's hard to talk about. There's more shame, more ignorance around it than for younger people, which is fantastic. Because we need to have these conversations."

At the time of our chat, Jackman has only a handful of performances left in his run of The Music Man, and then, will begin preparing for his next movie role: Wolverine, one final time, in Marvel's upcoming Deadpool threequel. Even still, Jackman continues to feel the impact of The Son. "It didn't feel like it stopped at the end," he reiterates. "It's a strange thing to describe, but it's a great blessing, as an actor, as an artist, when you find a role and a story that touches you. It changes you, and this movie changed me."

As we say our goodbyes, Jackman suddenly grows serious.

"By the way," he says, "in this interview, I said I've learned to give up control. Please don't show this to Ryan Reynolds, okay?" He breaks into that Hugh Jackman megawatt smile. "I just want to be very clear about that."

By John Boone

[jo]

[njr]

Jan 12, 2023 3:30:05 GMT -5 jo said:

What a happy coincidence for me!

My favorite journalist interviewing my favorite actor/performer!

In my dream dinner guests group, Christiane Amanpour & Hugh Jackman were the two I would always be certain to like being in the group

And here, arguably it sounds like one the most intelligent exchanges we have seen between Hugh and a media personality. Christiane has interviewed so many world leaders, including the most controversial ones, and she always comes out as penetrating in her questions but very professional in her manner! And, as we always expect, Hugh gives the most direct and thought-provoking replies.

edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2023/01/10/amanpour-jackman.cnn

I’ll have to watch this later (no time now) Christiane Amanpour was the speaker at my son’s graduation from Georgia State University in 2010. (mine & his dad’s alma mater)

Nancy

[njr]

Jan 12, 2023 3:30:05 GMT -5 jo said:

What a happy coincidence for me!

My favorite journalist interviewing my favorite actor/performer!

In my dream dinner guests group, Christiane Amanpour & Hugh Jackman were the two I would always be certain to like being in the group

And here, arguably it sounds like one the most intelligent exchanges we have seen between Hugh and a media personality. Christiane has interviewed so many world leaders, including the most controversial ones, and she always comes out as penetrating in her questions but very professional in her manner! And, as we always expect, Hugh gives the most direct and thought-provoking replies.

edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2023/01/10/amanpour-jackman.cnn

Gives “Bad Request” ☹️

redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_16735611259407&loc=https%3A%2F%2Fozalots.proboards.com%2Fthread%2F966%2Fson%3Fpage%3D14&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2Fvideos%2Ftv%2F2023%2F01%2F10%2Famanpour-jackman.cnn&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fozalots.proboards.com%2Fpost%2F54401%2Fquote%2F966%3Fpage%3D15&title=THE%20SON%20%7C%20OZalots%20HQ&txt=edition.cnn.com%2Fvideos%2Ftv%2F2023%2F01%2F10%2Famanpour-jackman.cnn

[jo]

From the article from @theacademy --

Jackman and Zeller nearly worked together once before, years ago, when the latter was staging a production of his play, The Truth. "But the timing didn't work out," the actor reflects.

It seems that THE TRUTH has some similarity with Harold Pinter's BETRAYAL.

BETRAYAL was staged on Broadway with Daniel Craig & Rachel Weisz on a limited engagement basis ( late 2013 to early 2014).

Hugh came back to Broadway with another play, Jez Butterworth's THE RIVER. It played from fall of 2017 to very early 2014.


Jo

[njr]

Jan 12, 2023 17:04:47 GMT -5 njr said:

Jan 12, 2023 3:30:05 GMT -5 jo said:

What a happy coincidence for me!

My favorite journalist interviewing my favorite actor/performer!

In my dream dinner guests group, Christiane Amanpour & Hugh Jackman were the two I would always be certain to like being in the group

And here, arguably it sounds like one the most intelligent exchanges we have seen between Hugh and a media personality. Christiane has interviewed so many world leaders, including the most controversial ones, and she always comes out as penetrating in her questions but very professional in her manner! And, as we always expect, Hugh gives the most direct and thought-provoking replies.

edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2023/01/10/amanpour-jackman.cnn

I’ll have to watch this later (no time now) Christiane Amanpour was the speaker at my son’s graduation from Georgia State University in 2010. (mine & his dad’s alma mater)

Nancy

Got it to work today! Yay!

[jo]

[jo]

Maybe he will have to spend the next few days doing more promo for THE SON. The movie is due for general release on Friday. I have no idea when I can finally see it. There is no news on the DVD/BluRay yet. Thankfully, I had access to the play early on.

Colbert, hopefully 1 or 2 more.

Jo

[jo]

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[jo]

He followed the mask-no signing at the stagedoor rule of Actors Equity during the run of The Music Man. He also knew that getting infected would mean a Jackman-less performance and the show will get hurt at the box office and many disappointed fans.

[jo]

Release dates in the USA and other countries --

www.imdb.com/title/tt14458442/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_rdat

[jo]

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Remember KK ?

http://instagram.com/p/Cf3rfjlP6RM

[jo]

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