THE SON : Official Reviews

[jo]

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]

MOVIES & TV
Review: Hugh Jackman leads mental illness story from a fresh angle in ‘The Son’

Mick LaSalle January 17, 2023Updated: January 17, 2023, 8:02 pm

Zen McGrath, Laura Dern and Hugh Jackman in a scene from “The Son.”
Photo: Rekha Garton / Associated Press
Though hardly anybody’s idea of a jolly time at the movies — and not nearly the equal of Florian Zeller’s previous film, “The Father” — “The Son” provides an arresting and unsettling experience. It’s an interesting movie, and different.

Based on Zeller’s play, it begins as the story of a man with lots of good things in his life. His new wife (Vanessa Kirby) is pregnant with their first child; his career as a top Manhattan lawyer is going strong, and he is about to become a key adviser on a major political campaign. At the turn of 50, Peter (Hugh Jackman) is coming into everything he could ever want — love, wealth and power.

So it seems like a colossal inconvenience when his son from a previous marriage starts having serious behavioral and emotional problems. The 17-year-old boy, played by Zen McGrath, is truant, depressed and a little bit spooky, and his mom (Laura Dern) can’t handle him anymore. Next thing he knows, Peter’s idyll with his new wife is interrupted when his teenage son comes to live with them.

What made “The Father” (2021) great — and what earned Anthony Hopkins the Oscar for best actor — was that the film presented dementia from inside the experience of the disease. Yet what makes “The Son” at least good is that it takes the opposite strategy. It presents the son’s mental illness from the standpoint of a parent, who has his own life and really has no time for the problems of an almost-grown child.

It’s not hard to imagine how some viewers will find this to be a limited lens through which to view such a story, but it’s actually the movie’s chief virtue. It makes the audience complicit in Peter’s inadequate parenting. He’s not horrible, uncaring or unloving, but he’s busy and understandably impatient with the situation. He also resents — and fears — that he has caused this, that his son has become the collateral damage of his divorce.


Hugh Jackman and Vanessa Kirby in “The Son.”
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics

The movie’s distance from the boy’s internal struggle also serves to emphasize the loneliness of it. With the possible exception of being a ghost in the land of the living, there’s nothing more isolating than being mentally ill — and nothing more perplexing than someone else’s mental illness.

Standing on the outside, the highly-functional Peter can’t help wishing his son could just snap out of it. But of course, the boy can’t just do that — if he could, he would. No one would willingly stay so miserable.

When Zeller was directing “The Father,” he found cinematic ways to emphasize what he could only suggest in the original stage play. But one gets the sense that “The Son” loses something in the translation from stage to screen. It feels talky and confined, not in a bad way but enough to notice.

Still, the actors do good work. Laura Dern, never better than when she’s at her wit’s end, is in that state throughout the movie. Kirby is a study in internalized conflict, and Jackman is brilliant as a man of action who has no idea what he’s doing — so he keeps trying different things: Love, unconditional acceptance, bullying, bluster.

Also, take time to appreciate Anthony Hopkins, who is an evil delight in his one scene as Peter’s father. If he’s this mean a daddy at 80, just imagine the monster he must have been at 40. As fathers go, Peter’s a prince in comparison.

M“The Son”: Drama. Starring Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby and Zen McGrath. Directed by Florian Zeller. (PG-13. 123 minutes.) In theaters Friday, Jan. 20.

[jo]

The Son has its positive elements, but its straightforward approach to a story we have seen time and time again is a daring and disappointing decision,

FILM REVIEW: THE SON
By Birdy Francis
January 20, 2023
SHARE THIS:
FILM REVIEWS
The Son
Director: Florian Zeller
Sony Pictures Classics
In theaters 01.20


It’s not often that I find myself watching sad movies, at least not since I was in middle school obsessing over movie adaptations of John Green novels and romances like Stuck in Love. As a result, I am going to make an extremely dramatic statement: The Son is the saddest movie I have ever seen.

The Son is the prequel to The Father (2020), loosely based on Writer-Director Florian Zeller’s 2012 play Le Père. The two films are independent of one another as they explore two entirely different stories, yet both concern the complicated relationships between a parent and child and the trauma and pain we may face at any age and at any time. The Son deals with the difficult relationship between teenage Nicholas (Zen McGrath) and his divorced parents Peter (Hugh Jackman) and Kate (Laura Dern). In the aftermath of the divorce, Nicholas struggles with severe depression. In an attempt to make a life change, he decides to move in with his father. Peter welcomes Nicholas with open arms, but with a newborn son, a new relationship and a time-consuming career, Peter finds himself grappling to juggle it all and make informed decisions.

This film will undoubtedly not be for everyone, but you should surely plan on leaving the theater having shed a few tears. However, the story occasionally undercuts its own sense of authenticity. Nicholas’ character was a moderately straightforward, stereotypical illustration of a teenager suffering from depression. There is little depth to Nicholas, and The Son exploits such a weighty topic for an audience’s reaction for pure entertainment with back-to-back scenes just begging you to cry (which you will) as if it were a teen drama. It feels like writers Zeller and Christopher Hampton weren’t exactly knowledgeable about the intricacies of teenage mental health, which is emphasized by McGrath’s portrayal. His unconvincing monologues would often distract me. At other times, he’d successfully shatter my heart into a million pieces. This is a major and difficult role to play, so the inadequate character development and performance knocked The Son down multiple notches. Jackman and Dern’s performances elevated the experience to the point where I sobbed into my popcorn anytime I caught even a glimpse of Jackman’s sorrowful gaze as he holds in his tears. The two lost parents are faced with very difficult decisions, and a wrong turn could lead to devastating consequences.

I thoroughly appreciated The Son’s ability to approach the portrayal of parenthood in a somewhat original manner. These two characters represent different ways of hurting, coping, nurturing—knowing what is best for a child is not black and white. While you can likely predict the plot progression, you still find yourself as entrapped in the two character’s challenges and pain as they are. There are a handful of decisions made that serve the plot well, such as Peter’s relationship with Kate and his new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby) and the complexities of infidelity and parenting—more specifically, how to parent opposite of how Peter was raised. A huge positive to The Son was its score. World-renowned Hans Zimmer joined the team to construct a tragic, captivating sound to pair with its stinging subject matter.

In The Son, Anthony (Anthony Hopkins)—The Father’s protagonist—makes an appearance as Peter’s distant, cold father who is newly dealing with some undisclosed health problems. Anthony only appears briefly in the film, but he plays a vital role in the trajectory of the script. The Father followed Anthony as he struggled with dementia and his daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), who attempts to care for him and find the right caretaker. The Father and The Son are two entirely different stories, and Peter does not make an appearance in the 2020 film at all, but they’re tied together by one string, one family.

The Son deserves a B+. I thoroughly enjoyed my viewing experience, and it succeeds in what it sets out to do—make its audience emotional—but it doesn’t live up to The Father’s complex narrative that allows you to piece the puzzle together alongside Anthony. The Son has its positive elements, but its straightforward approach to a story we have seen time and time again (even coming from the sad flick newbie here) is a daring and disappointing decision, especially following the triumph that is The Father. –Birdy Francis

[jo]

MOVIE REVIEW
The Son – A Great Cast Saving A Manipulative Script

Connor CareyJanuary 21, 202365/1009 min

Poster image
StarringHugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa KirbyWritersChristopher Hampton, Florian ZellerDirectorFlorian ZellerRatingPG (Canada), PG-13 (United States)Running Time123 minutesRelease DateJanuary 20th, 2023
Overall Score
65%
Rating Summary
An impressive cast led by a never-better Hugh Jackman ultimately saves The Son from its manipulative script.

For our earlier review of The Son from TIFF 2022, click here.

The Son is Florian Zeller’s sophomore feature following his Oscar-winning directorial debut The Father. The film follows Peter (Jackman) whose busy life with his new partner Beth (Kirby) and their baby is thrown into disarray when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) shows up at their door asking for help with their son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) who suffers from severe depression. Nicholas quickly moves in with his father as the film then sees Peter trying to understand his son’s illness and doing everything, he can to help him get better. The film was predicted to be a major awards player before its premiere due to its stacked cast, powerful subject matter, and the award-winning filmmaker behind it, but its chances quickly dwindled after it ran the festival circuit, receiving a divisive response from critics and audiences alike. It is undeniably a big step down from Zeller’s previous film and it’s very easy to understand why it rubbed some audiences the wrong way but nonetheless, it is still a powerful drama that doesn’t quite deserve the level of negativity it got thrown its way.

Jackman has been turning in great performances for the past several decades and is never afraid to show off his range by taking on several vastly different roles. That being said, his role here still ranks up there with some of the best work of his career in spite of some rough lines of dialogue he’s forced to deliver. Jackman delivers a heartbreaking performance as Peter as he does an excellent job at portraying his struggle as a father constantly trying to support his son and failing to understand his illness while audiences watch his life slowly fall apart. The cast is easily the best part of the film with the reliable Dern and Kirby providing strong supporting turns. Meanwhile, the film also sees Zeller reunite with Anthony Hopkins in an albeit brief but still pivotal scene where his presence can be felt throughout as he of course dominates the screen and makes the most out of his short screen time.

However, the most common gripe against the film (and it’s a big one) has been McGrath performance as the titular character, one that will either make or break the film. Unfortunately, his performance is very mixed but he’s not completely terrible, doing the best he can in certain moments in spite of how Nicholas was written. He works more effectively in the film’s quieter and more subdued scenes but even then, it feels like he’s playing the character the complete wrong way, or just wasn’t directed properly. It’s the louder and showier scenes where his lack of emotional range is the most evident which sadly makes a lot of the third act not nearly as effective as it could have been. It also doesn’t help that he’s working with an A-list cast who overshadow him at every turn.

The script doesn’t do this film any favors either as it tries too hard to elicit emotion out of the audience every chance it can despite it not always feeling earned or necessary. There are several extremely powerful and effective moments over the course of the film that will inevitably stick with audiences but there’s an equal number of scenes that feel emotionally hollow or completely manipulative as a result of that script. Some of the dialogue doesn’t feel natural either to the point that the actors can at times struggle to deliver it convincingly, especially Dern who suffered the most from this. As the film reach the end, it is at its most manipulative and sometimes incomprehensible as it is easy to see why so many were bothered or left movie theatres.

While The Son doesn’t come anywhere close to matching the brilliance of The Father or do nearly as good of a job of putting audiences inside the mind of someone and those around them affected by mental illness, it is still a film worth checking out if only for them to form their own opinions. Due to some sensitive subject matter, it might be a good to know what audiences are going into ahead of time because of its emotionally devastating and draining nature. In the end, the good thankfully outweighs the bad. There’s a better film in here desperately trying to get out but the occasional flash makes it worthy enough of a recommendation.

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

Interesting that its first review ( after the Toronto film fest) scored 38 %

The revised review is scored at 65 %


Jo

[jo]

www.film-rezensionen.de/2023/01/the-son/

A review from Germany --

Translation :

The Son

Maximilian Schröter DramaFranceUK Sunday, January 22, 2023
The Son
"The Son" // German release: January 26, 2023 (cinema)

Content / Review Credits Pictures Trailer Film Awards Filmfest Buy / Stream

Things are going well for New York lawyer Peter (Hugh Jackman) at the moment: He and his partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby) have just become parents and Peter is also facing exciting new challenges professionally. However, his happiness is broken when his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) suddenly stands at the door and tells him about the problems of their son Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who lives with her. She has just learned that the 17-year-old hasn't gone to school for weeks. In addition, the once fun-loving boy has recently become a quiet, withdrawn teenager. His transfer to the next grade is in danger and Kate sees that Nicholas is generally not well at all. She doesn't know exactly what he is missing, but she hopes that a conversation between father and son can help.

When Peter talks to Nicholas as promised, the son still can't give any clear reasons for his discomfort. Peter promises to be there for him and when Nicholas expresses the desire to move back in with his father, he agrees – probably also due to his own guilty conscience to have let Nicholas down after the separation from Kate. So Nicholas moves in with Peter and Beth and at first it actually seems that his condition is improving. But Beth, who spends much more time at home than Peter, gradually discovers signs that Nicholas is indulging in extremely dark thoughts...



TABOO TOPIC DEPRESSION

Florian Zeller's first film The Father was critically acclaimed and won two Oscars – for Anthony Hopkins for Best Actor and for Zeller's screenplay based on his own play. Expectations of the French playwright's second film were correspondingly high. The Son is again an adaptation of one of Zeller's plays, which he co-authored with Christopher Hampton. At the center of the plot this time – as the film title reveals – is the son of the family played by Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Vanessa Kirby. And something else is constantly hovering over everything in The Son, although it has not been directly addressed here (which never happens in the film): the topic of depression.

The Father was about the disease of dementia, which is difficult for outsiders to grasp, which Florian Zeller and his team made visible and tangible for the viewer with simple but effective film tricks and thus put him fully in the role of the dementia father played by Anthony Hopkins. The fact that depression is still an even more difficult phenomenon to grasp is shown by the fact that The Son completely dispenses with such skillful gimmicks. However, the film is not about sounding out Nicholas' inner life in detail and making it understandable for the viewer. Rather, the film is dedicated to the helplessness and increasing frustration of the relatives, who simply cannot understand what is going on in a depressed person – and certainly do not know how to really help him.


ACTING AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL

Acting-wise, this clearly happens at the highest level. What is going on in Peter played by Hugh Jackman can always be perceived very precisely. Sometimes he is at a loss, sometimes deeply immersed in worry, other times moments of lightness and joy arise between him and the other family members, reminiscent of times long gone, better times. Vanessa Kirby also knows how to impress, especially in the scenes with the young Zen McGrath, whom Beth is initially a bit jealous and suspicious of.

The young actor, on the other hand, undermines the expectations of the audience insofar as he never plays a purely clichéd, moody teenager. Instead, you experience a quiet, often sad-looking young man who is clearly intelligent and charming, but cannot live out his strengths. A highlight of the film – acting as well as narrative – is the scene with Hugh Jackman and Anthony Hopkins, in which the father visits his own father and is punished by him with freezing cold and incomprehension. Here it becomes clear that despite Peter's best efforts to give his son a good life, there is too much family baggage on him.



CONVENTIONAL AND OPPRESSIVE

As a theatrical adaptation that does without the visual gimmicks that made The Father so special, The Son is clearly a bit more conventionally told. In addition, the dialogues here and there seem a bit clumsy. Just as The Father shows the viewer the world from the point of view of a dementia patient, The Son lets you experience the helplessness of the relatives of a depressive. One could criticize the fact that the narrative here never takes Nicholas' own perspective. But that's not what Zeller is about. Rather, he successfully shows the reactions from Nicholas' environment: the despair of his parents in the face of the fact that they simply do not know how to help him.

Her temporary state of shock and her helplessness in dealing with the unfortunately still so misunderstood disease. Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern transport all this in their play and make the effects of depression tangible, at least in a roundabout way. The events come to a head in the course of the film. The situation gets much more serious and The Son is certainly not a movie after which you walk out of the cinema in good spirits. But one who treats a serious and important topic sensitively.


THE SON

RESULT
Cinematically and narratively far more conventional than Zeller's debut "The Father", "The Son" can still convince with outstanding acting performances. The experiences you share with the relatives of a depressive person sometimes seem like a punch in the stomach.


7 of 10

Interestingly, the IMDB voter profile shows a much higher rating from the non-USA vs USA. Also, the older demos are now voting more favorably compared to the younger demos.

It may be a longer process, but I am beginning to think that the more sober look at the movie is evolving, setting aside the initial hostile impressions of the critics. I hate to say it - but I think the level of appreciation of the filmmaking art for some reflects on a relative lack of maturity in their outlooks and an unfortunate belief that any movie that they see must hew to their personal expectations.

The above review is a down-to-earth and mature look at the cinematic vision of Florian Zeller and whether the filmmaker was able to deliver his artistic intentions through his storytelling and the ability of his cast to translate them effectively.

Jo

[jo]

Magazine

FILM
The Son

4 of 5 *


Parenthood as a horror show
Transmission Films

by Tim Byrne • ABR Arts • 07 February 2023



Given the success of the film adaptation of his previous play, The Father (2020), with an Academy Award-winning lead performance from Anthony Hopkins and a slew of nominations for himself, it seems only natural that writer–director Florian Zeller should turn to another in his trilogy of plays, The Son, for his next film project. (Zeller’s play, Le Fils, had its première in Paris in 2018.) Co-written by famed English playwright Christopher Hampton and shot by cinematographer Ben Smithard, who both worked on the earlier film, The Son represents, in many ways, a consolidation of Zeller’s talents, even if it doesn’t quite reach the harrowing intensity of The Father.

Not that The Son isn’t distressing. Indeed, for some viewers it will be even more devastating, more nakedly tragic, than the prior film, which dealt with a faltering man in the latter stage of his life. The Son deals with a teenager, full of promise but also the potential for ongoing psychological harm that can come from parental mistakes. We have a sense, watching this film, of parenthood as a helpless horror show: you watch your children hanging on the precipice, while any move you make could send them over. Intervention might be calamitous, but inaction is surely out of the question.



There are three sons in The Son; the title could refer to any of them. Theo, the first one we meet, only months old when the film opens, is the newborn son of Peter (Hugh Jackman) and Beth (Vanessa Kirby). Soon, ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) interrupts their idyll with troubling news regarding Peter’s first son, Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who has been skipping school. Kate is not simply worried about Nicholas; she admits to being, in a hushed tone of parental failure, afraid of him. Soon Nicholas comes to stay with his father and stepmother, in a move designed to fix a problem we suspect will only worsen.

This set-up is reminiscent of a sub-genre of horror cinema sometimes referred to as the ‘evil child’ film, most luridly exemplified by The Bad Seed (d. Mervyn LaRoy, 1956). This flirtation with genre is a curious feature of Zeller’s work, who leant on and then subverted horror tropes in The Father. Here he allows the idea of Nicholas’s malignancy to occupy the centre of the story without necessarily exploiting it. Moments that in other films would be leveraged for maximum tension, such as when Beth balks at the idea of Nicholas’s being left alone to babysit Theo, are revealed to be sadder and truer for their compassion and honesty. Depression is shown as burdensome for the entire family, frightening in its irrationality and resistance to succour, but also beyond the power of the teenager to control. There is nothing romantic about this existential aloneness; only a dark, centrifugal void, threatening to suck them all in.



While Nicholas is the inciter and engine of the film’s crisis, it is really Peter who interests Zeller most. Jackman proves worthy of the attention, delivering one of the finest performances of his career. Harried, conflicted and achingly well-meaning, Peter often seems to be caught in a pincer movement between the past and the present. Jackman’s natural charm and magnetism stand here as a mask or prop against despair, which appears to churn dangerously under the surface. Self-composure, competence, and the trappings of success feel not just unstable in The Son but wilfully dishonest; it is to Jackson and Zeller’s credit that we see these lies as necessary bulwarks against a collapse of the self.

Much of this psychic tenuousness can be traced back to Peter’s relationship with his own father, played with malevolent indifference by Anthony Hopkins – closer in pathology to his Hannibal Lecter than the paterfamilias of Zeller’s previous film. Hopkins has a single scene in The Son, but it resonates, poisoning as it goes. Philip Larkin’s ‘coastal shelf of misery’ comes to mind here, but it is also worth noting that Peter’s father has some words of advice for his son that contain more than a little truth. One of Shakespeare’s favourite tricks is to put words of sagacity into the mouth of a villain.

Performances across the board are excellent. Dern brings a weariness and longing to Kate that suggests the ongoing pain of broken relationships and dashed hopes. Kirby – terrific in a sparsely written part – manages to convey a series of doubts and concerns with the subtlest of expressions. As the troubled son, Melbourne-born actor Zen McGrath is deeply affecting, mercurial and untrustworthy and yet simultaneously fragile and sincere. Zeller lets us see how frustrating, even irritating, his illness can be for others, but he never lets us forget the boy’s torment.

As in The Father, the film’s ‘opening out’ of the play is seamless and thoughtful; it sacrifices none of the original’s emotional telescoping or thematic complexity. Despite pacing that waxed and waned, The Father was an incredibly lean, economical ninety-seven minutes. A good half hour longer, The Son occasionally risks a slackening in tension.

The film The Son most seems to riff on, or perhaps stand as a rejoinder to, is Ordinary People (d. Robert Redford, 1980). That took the theme of suicidal ideation in teenagers as a chance to open wounds in the American family structure, although it had the unfortunate tendency to blame the mother. The Son places the blame squarely on fatherhood, or rather traditional fatherhood’s flawed social legacy. At one point, Peter tells his son, ‘When you hurt yourself, you’re doing it to me.’ Nicholas’s response is swift and devastating: ‘When you hurt mom, you did it to me.’



The Son (Transmission Films), 124 minutes, is on general release from 9 February 2023.

[mamaleh]

That’s a great review. That critic gets it , unlike too many American critics who lambasted the film because it wasn’t done in the style of THE FATHER or they wanted a different film than the one Zeller put forth.

Ellen

[jo]

He has such a command of language!

The review is incisive and very well-written.

Btw, he is not just a film critic, he is also a regular book reviewer as well as a theatre critic. Hence his stable of knowledge must be richer and wider than many film critics.

It is sad that the first critic comments to reach Rotten Tomatoes are from the critics from the USA and those who came to see it at Toronto. Although my own appreciation of their critiques is that quite a few of the more established or better respected ones did appreciate the movie in the right way.

I also find it odd that there were many comments praising Jackman's portrayal as very good or even finest work...when they give the movie very poor marks. There is something that seems inconsistent about that.

Should critics judge an artistic work on what they want to see from it...or shouldn't it be what the artist's conception of the message he wants to project?


Jo

[jo]

A review from the Venice film festival.

This is translated from the original language ( it is probably not as graceful as it was in the original language).

Search

REVIEWS, FESTIVAL
the son
0
Martina BaroneSeptember 7, 2022

Venice79 | The Son: review of the film with Hugh Jackman
Tags: Hugh Jackman, The Son, Venice79
After The Father, author Florian Zeller returns to the cinema with The Son, a drama about the father-son relationship presented at Venezia79

Florian Zeller with The Father played at home. Literally. The film about old age and Alzheimer's is built by the screenwriter and creator of the play similar to a thriller in which to frame the protagonist, prisoner of his own mind, closed and with no way out as if stuck inside a box. An approach that played with the perception of the viewer and seemed to move a stage intent on changing its scenes at every turn, not hiding anything behind the scenes and putting the discomfort of Anthony Hopkins' character in the spotlight.

Even The Son, the second work as a director in the cinema that the author French wrote and scripted, starts from the opera for the theater Le Fils, which is included in the trilogy of which only La Mère (The Mother) is missing from the cinema. But unlike his debut on the big screen, Zeller detaches himself from the dramaturgical familiarity that had brought The Father closer to a (similar) live performance, setting it well outside the comfort of a circumscribed perimeter – albeit rich in creativity – of a stage. A bringing the story into a real cinematographic dimension, still acting as an ellipse in the management of the time of the story, but also moving it with greater diversification in space.

From theatre to cinema, once again

This more classic scenario for the film The Son could be due to the idea of looking for a different breath between the two films currently under the director's credit, not having the need to pass with a visual stratagem the interiority of the characters, but losing a brilliance that instead enhanced the staging of The Father. Perhaps the attempt also, courageous and functional for the narration of the story, to dare more in trying to adapt to a container like that of cinema to which the author is increasingly approaching, coming out of those rooms that had become the only place to tell the previous work and experimenting with something new.

Whether it is this freedom of movement that influences the construction or not of The Son still leads Florian Zeller to face a relegation compared to the amazement with which he had impressed his debut, giving the feeling of being in front of a film reduced to the essentials, while knowing how to communicate with dryness in the peaks of emotion. The skeleton of the work is that of a conflictual relationship between a father and a son, with a parent in turn mindful of the shortcomings and yielding of an absent and repulsive father figure, trying to get away from them while being afraid of ending up resembling them.

The pressure of having to live
the son

A successful man, who led his private life and that at work in parallel, certainly spending many more hours in the office than inside the house, but while trying with all his strength to be a present and constant figure as his father had not been able to do. But if it is an acute form of depression that afflicts his son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) then there is very little to cling to, if not try to defeat a pain, personal and of that boy who does not feel able to live, which however remains inexplicable.

Because there is certainly the feeling abandoned of a young man who, when he was still a boy, saw his father leave his mother to start over with another woman. There is the feeling of being constantly put under pressure by a family circle full of ambitions and goals to be set. There is a suffocating pressure that sometimes prevents communication, clouding the mind and thoughts not even knowing how to formulate them.


The Son: Hugh Jackman's touching father
the son

In wanting to outline a cumbersome evil that Zeller did not want to drape with a fictional excess of suffering, The Son is the confusion of a boy who probably no longer knows how to live and a parent who has to face the consequences of an impossible existence to plan. Don't blame yourself for taking another path. Not having decided not to continue in an unsatisfactory relationship held together only for the love of the son. The work is a strangled scream that tries to tell the viewer that it is true that life is led to lead us towards unexpected choices and sometimes not shared by others, but that if something is irreparably broken it is easier to be led to an inevitable end.

A simple film The Son in its formal rigor, intense for the vulnerable and human touches of a Hugh Jackman who tenderly impersonates this man who will remain in turn broken, sincere both in his outbursts of anger and in the tears he would not like to find himself shed. The helplessness with which you would never want to confront a parent. Having brought one's own creature into the world and constantly having the fear of not knowing how to protect it.

[jo]

Thursday, February 9, 2023
Logo
FILMSBOOKSSERIESNEWSCONTESTSOUR SITE
Films The Son: A Film Focused on the Disease...
FILMS
[Film Review] The son: a film focused on the mental illness of depression since adolescence
AlanAranibal
By
ALANARANIBAL
-

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

34
0
Share
SYNOPSIS: Peter's busy life with his new partner Emma and their baby turns into chaos when his ex-wife Kate reappears with their teenage son, Nicholas, a troubled young man with whom it is difficult to communicate, because he is aggressive and distant, and who has just dropped out of school.

Tomorrow, Thursday, February 9, El hijo thanks to Diamond Films Chile, the second part of director Florian Zeller's trilogy on mental health, opens in theaters. The film is based on the play Le Fils, which premiered in Paris in 2018 and in London in 2019.

The film follows the life of a successful man who is interrupted by the reappearance of his ex-wife, who asks him to talk to the teenage son they have in common, Nicholas, due to the strange behavior he has adopted in recent times.


One of the central themes of the film is the complexity of human relationships, in the sense that it is shown that the protagonist (Hugh Jackson) abandoned his ex-wife because he fell in love with another woman (Vanessa Kirby), a decision that ended up affecting the mental health of his son.

Just as The Father (2020) explores Alzheimer's mental illness, The Son revolves around depression. However, that is not the only parallel that can be made between both films, because while The Father focuses on the life stage of old age, The Son focuses on adolescence. In this way, it is expected that The Mother, the third and final part of the trilogy, will focus on some other mental illness from childhood or adulthood.

Despite the name of the film, there is a strong focus on the father's perspective throughout the story. In this sense, the film focuses more on how the character played by Jackman digests what happens around his teenage son, than on how the mother, played by Laura Dern, takes it when the problems concern both of them.

The film explores the father-son bonds not only through the protagonist and his son, but also through the protagonist and his father, realizing the complexity of these, as the character played by Jackman at one point in the story realizes that he is inevitably saying and doing the same things that made him hate his own father.

Regarding the end, with The Father (2020) Florian Zeller already demonstrated his ability to impress the viewer and The Son is no exception, because, although to a lesser extent, he manages to surprise the viewer with the last scene of the film.


In short, The Son focuses on the mental illness of depression since adolescence, this through a strong focus on the father's perspective, played by Hugh Jackman. A film that explores the complexity of human relationships, the impact that some decisions parents make have on their children and the father-child bonds.

Year: 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 2 hours and 3 minutes
Directorx: Florian Zeller Cast: Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Hopkins, Zen McGrath, William Hope, Akie Kotabe, Danielle Lewis, Nancy Baldwin, Reza Diako.

[jo]

From the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD --

★★★½CultureMoviesReview
The Son confirms Hugh Jackman as one of our most intelligent screen actors
Sandra Hall
BySandra Hall
February 8, 2023 — 1.11pm
Save
Share
Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size
0
Leave a comment

Advertisement

The Son ★★★½
(M) 123 minutes

Like Tolstoy, writer-director Florian Zeller is fascinated by the myriad ways in which families can be eaten up by unhappiness.

The Son is the second film in what Zeller has designed as a trilogy. It was launched in 2020 with The Father, which had Anthony Hopkins as a parent whose dementia causes him to fear and distrust those closest to him. Now, in The Son, Hugh Jackman’s Peter, a successful Manhattan lawyer, is trying to rescue his teenage son from the depths of depression.

Hugh Jackman’s Peter is both guilt-ridden and in mourning for the carefree little boy his son used to be.
Hugh Jackman’s Peter is both guilt-ridden and in mourning for the carefree little boy his son used to be.CREDIT:REKHA GARTON/SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

The two films do not share a narrative link but Hopkins does make an appearance here, cast as Peter’s father. He’s with us for about 10 minutes, but that’s all he needs. He presents such an icy study in heartless arrogance that further exposure would put us at urgent risk of hypothermia.

Peter’s troubles with his own son begin when his ex-wife, Kate (Laura Dern) pays an unexpected visit to the loft apartment where Peter lives with his new partner, Beth (Vanessa Kirby) and their baby.

Kate is distraught. She has just learnt from the school where their 17 year-old son, Nicholas, is enrolled, that he’s been playing truant for months. Worse, he has started treating her as if he hates her.

Jackman does a deep dive into his emotional reserves for his role in The Son, which also stars Zen McGrath and Laura Dern.
Jackman does a deep dive into his emotional reserves for his role in The Son, which also stars Zen McGrath and Laura Dern.CREDIT:TRANSMISSION

Alarmed, Peter agrees to confront his son (young Australian actor Zen McGrath) and one of the few things he gleans from their strained and painful exchange is Nicholas’ wish to come and live with him, Beth and the baby.

From this point, Peter, Kate and Beth all do their best, in a baffled, and understandably bumbling, way to deal with the illness that is overwhelming the boy.



Like The Father, the film began life onstage in Paris before being translated into English by Zeller’s regular collaborator, Christopher Hampton, who co-wrote this screenplay.

Jackman was the first actor to come aboard after contacting Zeller to offer himself up for the part, and his instincts were right.

In a film as sombre as this one, you desperately need actors who can attract an audience’s sympathy, and both Jackman and Dern do that without any trouble. Dern is an actress who wears her feelings just under the skin – whether she’s domineering, despairing or somewhere in between. Here, she’s buffeted by a storm of emotions. Still in love with Peter, Kate knows she has lost him but her attempts to maintain her tattered pride are undermined by nostalgia for what they had together. Her grief is still so raw that you can see how Nicholas has absorbed her sadness through his pores.

Hugh Jackman and Zen McGrath in a scene from The Son.
Hugh Jackman and Zen McGrath in a scene from The Son.CREDIT:TRANSMISSION

Kirby has a smaller but tougher and more detached role. Beth is busy with the joys and responsibilities of being a new mother. Having to relate to a troubled adolescent she barely knows is the last thing she needs, yet she makes an effort. Hers is a study in holding the line.


Jackman is the one who must do the deepest dive into his emotional reserves. Peter is both guilt-ridden and in mourning for the carefree little boy Nicholas used to be. At the same time, his career is peaking and his long-held political aspirations are bearing fruit. He’s been asked to work on the campaign of a promising presidential candidate but he’s on the verge of saying no, haunted by the memory of the way his father’s neglect blighted his own childhood. Proof of Jackman’s success in the role is in the way he taps into the poignancy of this self-possessed careerist’s stumbling attempts to save his son – and himself.

It’s an uncompromisingly grim film, made even gloomier by the lighting, which is so fashionably dim that you start to wonder if these well-heeled New Yorkers are behind in their electricity bills. We are occasionally let off the hook with a shaft of sunlight illuminating the pleasure that father and son take in playing video games together or jumping around in an impromptu display of their dance moves. Then the light fades again.

Yet the actors penetrate the murk to make something very touching out of their response to the tragedy which is threatening to derail all their lives. The impact of the film’s final moments is enough to confirm Jackman’s status as one of the most adaptable and intelligent actors at work on the screen.

The Son is in cinemas from February 9.

[jo]

Can miracles happen? Maybe "a pocketful of miracles"?

Hope there is a write-in at the AMPAS and BAFTA while voting is still happening for --

BEST PICTURE - THE SON
BEST ACTOR - HUGH JACKMAN

The film and Hugh Jackman's portrayal are getting high praise, particularly in the case of Hugh, outside of the USA!

Jo

[jo]

tg24.sky.it/spettacolo/cinema/2023/02/09/the-son-film-recensione?social=twitter_skytg24_photo_null

The Son, how hard it is to be a father. The review of the film with Hugh Jackman

CINEMA
Paolo Nizza
09 Feb 2023 - 09:30
Paolo Nizza

Depression and the relationship between father and son are at the center of the film by Oscar-winning director Florian Zeller, now in Italian cinemas In addition to Hugh Jackman, the cast includes Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Quarshie

In the name of the father, but also of the son. After The Father – Nothing is as it seems, the dazzling directorial debut of Florian Zeller', winner of 2 Oscars, the writer, playwright and director brings French to Italian cinemas (after being in competition at the 79.ma Venice Film Festival), The Son, taken, like his first work, from his homonymous theatrical play. After senile dementia, the transalpine filmmaker, this time, opts for a very complicated and risky theme to represent on the big screen, namely that of adolescent depression. With the usual and yet effective sobriety, between unspoken words, dark ties, gray men's suits, minimally furnished offices, the author illustrates the shame and pain of a family when it is struck by mental illness. A taboo that is always difficult to talk about in fiction and in reality.


THE SON, THE PLOT OF THE FILM
DEEPENING


The Son, the new trailer of the film with Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern
"Life is a state of mind", as suggested by the voiceover of that masterpiece that is Beyond the Garden by Hal Hasby. Unfortunately, the human condition experienced by Nicholas is terrible, a lonely and sad teenager, allergic to life, unable to be identical to many of his peers, gratified by parties and smartphones. A difficult boy, to whom it seems that the world has closed all doors. Peter, his father, has just had a son with his new partner Beth, when Kate, his ex-wife, asks him to take care of Nicholas. The man accepts and so the boy moves into the apartment of the new family. Peter would like to help his son, as he would have liked his father (A perfect Anthony Hopkins as the anaffective parent) to have taken care of him when he was little. But hell is paved with good intentions.

THE SON, THE WORDS OF FLORIAN ZELLER
DEEPENING

Deadpool 3, Hugh Jackman trains to return as Wolverine
As director Zeller has stated in many interviews: " The film tells the story of a father who does not have the tools to understand what is happening to his son. And a loving, caring parent who does his best to help a child who is going through a crisis. But he cannot understand the reasons for this, neither do we. She doesn't know if it's related to adolescence or dictated by a deeper discomfort. And what he discovers is that all his efforts are not "enough, and that love cannot suffice in certain situations." In short, The Son reminds us that often the expression "Latin Omnia vincit amor" is only the verse of a beautiful poem and unfortunately the reality is prosaically frightening

HUGH JACKMAN, THE PAIN FROM FATHER TO SON
DEEPENING

The son, the teaser trailer of the film with Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern
Except for a dance in which on the notes of Tom Jones' epochal hit It's Not Unusual, Hugh Jackman gives his son an unlikely dance lesson, The son is a twilight, painful, desperate journey to the end of a family devastated by a divorce. Any attempt to alleviate the dark evil suffered by the young protagonist, played by Zen McGrath, is in vain. Nor can biological mother Laura Dern or acquired mother Vanessa Kirby do anything. With the flannel shirt or the gray sweatshirt, Nicholas gets lost on the streets of a New York where the thousand lights imagined by Ian McInerney do not illuminate your path, because the most terrible thing is to feel alone among people. And grappling with one of the most complex and tormented roles of his career, Hugh Jackman gives us a memorable performance. Just think of the encounter-clash with Anthony Hopkins, who plays his father in the film. The tragedy is that mistakes are passed down from father to son, but depression cannot always be explained, and sometimes not even cured this self-destructive anger without enthusiasm.

[jo]

The critic is not in favor of the cinematic treatment of the subject --

another review from Italy.

Home Opinions The Son | Hugh Jackman, the faults of the fathers and a half-successful work

The Son | Hugh Jackman, the faults of the fathers and a half-successful work
After The Father, here is The Son. But this time Florian Zeller does not convince. That's why
The Son
Hugh Jackman, father of The Son, between guilt and past.
of Davide Merola
February 8, 2023

MILAN – Remember? The playwright French Florian Zeller had impressed everyone in 2021 with the adaptation of his play Le Pére, which became the film The Father starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. The poignant drama was about a daughter (Colman) struggling with a reluctant father (Hopkins) who shows symptoms of dementia and then won the statuettes for best adapted screenplay and the (deserved) one for best actor to Hopkins. What is – at the theater – a trilogy composed of Le Pére, Le Fils and La Mère, continues with this formula also in the cinema with its spiritual sequel The Son, always adapted, written and directed by Florian Zeller and presented in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

The Son
Father and son: Hugh Jackman and Zen McGrath
In The Son, divorced parents Peter and Kate (Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern) are struggling with the depression of their son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) who would just like to get closer to his father, but Peter has recently become a father again with his new wife Beth (Vanessa Kirby) and the situation at home is not the easiest. Despite this, Peter – eager to be a better father than his was to him – decides to accept the proposal of his son Nicholas. Beyond what the titles of Florian Zeller's two films suggest, The Son is also a story about fathers, the weight of their choices and the consequences of their personal legacies. The paternal legacy that in The Father – for obvious reasons – was central and was carried out with that intelligent narrative that focused on the disorientation and alienation due to dementia, in The Son remains always and only subtext.

The Son
The family: Jackman, Laura Dern and Zen McGrath.
It would not be a defect since this second chapter would focus on the character of the son, at least in theory: The Son gets lost in investigating the reactions of the parents to the problems of the son, rather than on him and how he deals with depression. Zeller knows that the protagonists are not in parents, yet paradoxically he returns to it several times that make us think the opposite and tire the narration. Hugh Jackman's performance doesn't help either. So what should be the actual protagonist – the "son" of the title – is left on the margins of the story also granting naive resolutions to a theme as deep and delicate as depression, and the young Zen McGrath can not stand up to the rest of the cast.

The Son
Florian Zeller on set with Jackman.
Far from calling it a "boomer" approach, but it is true that authors a little older who approach talking about adolescents and their problems often do not succeed, stumbling over their good intentions. Because The Son has many good intentions, but perhaps it cannot bear the weight of a debut and a first chapter as The Father had been. Not even Anthony Hopkins' cameo – as yet another father, that of Hugh Jackman – manages to create the empathy that remains relegated to that first film. The story is never unbalanced, linked to a subtext that it does not seem to know how to manage, sending the narrative forward only in function of that rifle hidden behind the washing machine in Peter's house, mentioned at random in a scene and that the viewer already knows what it will be used for ...

INTERVIEWS | Florian Zeller: "The Son? I hope it will open a debate..»

[jo]

From Australia - a negative review ( 2* out of 5*)


www.screenhub.com.au/news/reviews/the-son-review-florian-zeller-movie-2572070/

[jo]

Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern on the drama "The Son"
04:54
Video
Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern on the drama "The Son"
From Culture Webvideos from 03.02.2023.
play. Running time 4 minutes 54 seconds.
Culture Film & SeriesRecent article
Content
New in cinemas
-
«The Son»: Mum's favourite and yet quite «The Father»
After the Oscar hit "The Father", Florian Zeller delivers part two of his ambitious family trilogy with "The Son".

Author:Selim Petersen

Updated on Wednesday, 08.02.2023, 17:28


Father, mother, child – a little idyll: Peter (Hugh Jackman), Beth (Vanessa Kirby) and their baby enjoy the fresh family happiness in a chic New York apartment. But then his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) knocks on the door.

Before she can say anything, the landlord makes it clear that she is undesirable here. But Kate has good reasons for the lightning visit: Their son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) urgently needs help.

The 17-year-old has not only been skipping classes for weeks. He regularly scratches his arms sore and suffers from life. A new beginning with more paternal closeness is needed. That's why Nicholas moves in with his dad after just a few minutes of filming.


"The Son" tells a lot about absent fathers and their legacy. Especially since in the course of the two-hour drama we get to know two father-son relationships that fail terribly despite the best intentions.

Nicholas blames Papa Peter very directly for his emotional homelessness: "I can't cope with life. And that's your fault because you left us!"

Familienbild aus «The Son» mit Zen McGrath, Laura Dern und Hugh Jackman.
Legend:
Reminiscing: son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) with his divorced parents.

Peter, on the other hand, believes he has done everything for his son: by keeping the relationship with Kate alive "as long as possible" for the sake of the family. And by just turning down a job offer so he can take more care of his firstborn.

Every father is a son
Peter's own father (Anthony Hopkins) is ridiculed for his efforts to be there for Nicholas. Probably because he knows that he himself has never spent enough time with his family. In his understanding of fatherly love, sons must be hardened so that they succeed in life.

Hugh Jackman in a close-up as a thoughtful father in the film.
Legend:
No longer understands his son and the world: Hugh Jackman as a desperate father.

So like the father, like the son? Fortunately, the male characters of "The Son" cannot be reduced to this simple formula. Nevertheless, Florian Zeller's second feature film shows how gender-specific behaviors are often passed on unconsciously. Even if the younger generation believes that it clearly distinguishes itself from the older generation.

Speaking of demarcation: The character Anthony Hopkins plays in "The Son" is not the demented man from "The Father". Peter's father is in full possession of his mental powers. Director Florian Zeller and Anthony Hopkins gladly accepted the danger of causing confusion with the new role. Especially since the first collaboration had ever earned the two an Oscar.

Drama "The Father" opens in Swiss cinemas
04:38
Video
Drama "The Father" opens in Swiss cinemas
From 10 to 10 from 24.06.2021.
play. Running time 4 minutes 38 seconds.
Painful words with reverberations
Although "The Son" takes place in a different narrative cosmos than "The Father", their relationship cannot be overlooked. No wonder, after all, Florian Zeller has once again adapted one of his own plays for the cinema.

Hugh
Legend:
Florian Zeller (right with mask) shot the film with Hugh Jackman during the pandemic.

In addition, Nicholas feels just as lost as a depressed teenager in "The Son" as Anthony suffers from Alzheimer's disease in "The Father". Unlike in the dementia drama, however, the audience in Zeller's new film does not share the view of the badly disoriented title hero. The fact that one nevertheless experiences its confusion as if on one's own body is the merit of shocking dialogues.

"It's better to see things in a dark light than not at all," says Peter's new partner Beth at an important point. Reflecting this insight, «The Son» sheds light on mental abysses without being satisfied with simple answers. This film hurts and touches the heart.

Theatrical release on 09.02.2023

[jo]

From EMPIRE --

www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-son/

The Son Review
The Son

3 of 5 *

People:
Anthony Hopkins
Vanessa Kirby
Hugh Jackman
Laura Dern

Peter’s (Jackman) life with new wife Beth (Kirby) and son is shaken when his ex-wife tells him she’s very worried about their teenage son, Nicholas (Zen McGrath). Nicholas has been skipping school and feels deeply unhappy. Peter hopes he can help his son by spending more time with him, but things are not nearly so easy.
By Olly Richards | Posted2 Hours Ago
Original Title:
The Son

When Florian Zeller first adapted one of his own plays for the screen, the result was one of cinema’s most remarkable depictions of ageing. In The Father, he put the audience, movingly and terrifyingly, inside the head of a man succumbing to dementia, reality constantly shifting in a way neither he nor the audience could keep up with. The Son is another adaptation of a Zeller play (The Mother, as yet to be adapted, rounds out that stage trilogy). It’s another moving story, though sympathy is more baked into its premise than earned through the storytelling. It’s a familiar tale solidly told and well-acted, but without the remarkable invention of The Father.

Hugh Jackman reminds everybody what a strong dramatic actor he is, in his sturdiest role in years.He plays Peter, a successful Manhattan lawyer who has a new wife, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and a new son. His first wife, Kate (Laura Dern) — whom he left for Beth — and teenage son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) are inconveniently keeping him from moving on. Nicholas is having terrible issues with his mental health, unable to face school and feeling permanently sad. He begs to come and live with his dad. Both hope it will fix everything, but Nicholas’ health gets steadily worse.


the-son-1
There are some lovely scenes between Peter and Nicholas as they try to figure each other out, and a brief appearance by Peter’s own dad (Anthony Hopkins, walking off with the whole movie) gives interesting framing to Peter’s view of his son. Much of it, though, is played at a curiously melodramatic pitch. It’s not fully stagey, but there is an edge of artifice. Zeller presses hard on emotional moments to extract maximum pain, but it becomes more exasperating than affecting.

Everything is a little too self-conscious, but the longer the film goes on, the more it seems this artifice might be a deliberate choice

Nicholas is given to big speeches, expressing his torment in long, earnest monologues that don’t sound spontaneous. The characters often act as they should to keep the plot moving, rather than how they might believably behave. Beth, who has been nothing but kind to Nicholas, suddenly shouts terrible things about him in a tiny apartment where she will obviously be overheard. Wealthy Manhattanites Peter and Kate are remarkably uninformed about therapy. Everything is a little too self-conscious, but the longer the film goes on — and it does rather go on — the more it seems this artifice might be a deliberate choice, to make the entire world as dishonest and uncomfortable as Nicholas sees it.


The cleverest aspect is the way Zeller leaves the ending hanging over you like a curse. The seeds as to where the film might be going are sown early on, but the film quietly suggests many ways they may come to fruition. When the ending comes it’s simultaneously shocking and bleakly obvious. It’s a shame Zeller didn’t just let it sit starkly alone instead of adding a syrupy coda. Like much of this film, it could have been more effective by holding a little back.

Robustly acted by a superb cast and with some beautiful moments, this follow-up to The Father nevertheless feels less mature and less sure of itself.

[jo]

The view from Irish eyes!

(Sorry, I can't reproduce the full review)

[jo]

www.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/19/the-son-review-hugh-jackman-florian-zeller-anthony-hopkins

News
Opinion
Sport
Culture
Lifestyle
Show
More
BooksMusicTV & radioArt & designFilmGamesClassicalStage
The Observer
Drama films

Review
The Son review – Hugh Jackman excels in solid yet inferior follow-up to The Father
Jackman plays a parent knocked off kilter by his son’s depression in Florian Zeller’s second feature, which is no match for the complexity of The Father

Hugh Jackman and Zen McGrath in The Son.
Hugh Jackman and Zen McGrath in The Son: ‘basic in its insights’. Photograph: Entertainment Pictures/Alamy
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Sun 19 Feb 2023 11.00 GMT
1
Let’s get this out of the way: anyone expecting Florian Zeller’s second film to match his Oscar-nominated debut, The Father, for complexity and ingenuity will be disappointed. The Son, which, like The Father, was adapted by Zeller from his stage play, is a solid, affecting domestic drama that deals with a parent – high-achieving lawyer Peter (Hugh Jackman) – struggling to cope with his teenage son’s mental health issues. It’s generally well-acted: Jackman is terrific, his expensive equilibrium knocked off kilter by his son’s failure to thrive. And in a single, scathing cameo, Anthony Hopkins drenches the screen in bile and hate. But compared with Zeller’s earlier film, this picture is rather more straightforward in its storytelling and basic in its insights.

The fact that this tale of depression is told from the point of view of the parent rather than of Nicholas (Zen McGrath), the child who is suffering from it, has proved to be controversial. But in fact this is one of the more successful, if uncomfortable elements. Zeller explores how sadness repels; how people involuntarily recoil from depression, perpetuating the isolation of the sufferer.

[jo]

From a French viewpoint --

This is as translated :

CineSeries

Reviews
>

The Son: Hugh Jackman vulnerable in a great tragic melodrama

Marc-Aurèle Garreau

19 hours ago
Cinema/VOD reviews
The Son: Hugh Jackman vulnerable in a great tragic melodrama



After "The Father", Florian Zeller continues his exploration of family drama and illness with "The Son". If it does not have the cinematic bravery of its predecessor, and develops on a less spectacular mental illness, "The Son" is a melodrama of very high level that proves to be overwhelming.


Second part of Florian Zeller's family trilogy
The Father had the force of evidence and marked the birth of Florian Zeller as a filmmaker, after an already very accomplished work in literature and theater. His 2021 film was brilliant in form as well as in substance or, rather, merged the two in a striking tragic vertigo where his viewer found himself just as confused as his main character. Covered with prestigious awards, including the Oscar for Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins and Best Adapted Screenplay, The Father paved the way for its "sequel" The Son, but a path as royal as riddled with pitfalls. Indeed, on the same canvas of the family drama fueled by mental illness, can The Son do as well as The Father?

Nicholas Miller (Zen McGrath) - The Son
Nicholas Miller (Zen McGrath) - The Son ©Orange Studio
Florian Zeller directs The Son with much of his team from The Father, with Yorgos Lamprinos editing and Ben Smithard editing, and co-writer and adaptor Christopher Hampton. There is even an appearance of Anthony Hopkins, the lead role in his first film. If the costumes and sets are not created by the same artists, there is a certain continuity of universe. We go from London to New York but the social class remains substantially at the same height, that of a cultured and wealthy bourgeoisie. The fundamental difference between the two films lies in the narrative, which is linear in The Son, whereas it was not - and this was its whole point - in The Father. On this point, in counter-intuition, The Son is probably more difficult to stage.




Linear storytelling for a less graspable disorder

In The Son, Peter (Hugh Jackman) and Kate (Laura Dern) are the parents of Nicholas (Zen McGrath). They live apart, and Peter has a new girlfriend with whom he has just had a new child. Nicholas lives very badly the separation of his parents, resents his father, and this separation is an integral part of his malaise. In depression, Nicholas no longer goes to school, lies to his parents and harbors dark thoughts, even if he does not formulate them. The fact that he does not put words to his depression, nor does his parents find explanations and solutions, makes this story a vain pursuit of a terrible reality, an unsuccessful attempt to grasp a deep evil.

The Son

When in The Father the father's illness was very palpable, overwhelming to the point of dictating the narrative, in The Son the son's illness is like a phantom being, an evanescent threat, a prophetic shadow of doom. So, logically, in The Son, spectators and parents alike witness in a linear way the patient, imperturbable and tragic mechanism of the destruction of the son. Formally, after a complex thriller with an almost horrific bent, we move on to a melodrama in the classic form. Which, therefore, gives much more responsibility to the interpreters, in charge of sublimating this basic proposal.

A fallible star for The Son
Despite its title, Nicholas, the son, is not the first role in The Son. His main role is, again, that of the father, Peter. This one, played by Hugh Jackman, is an accomplished man. Mature, athletic and elegant, he is such a respected business lawyer that he must join the team of the candidate in the US Democratic primary. He lives with Beth (Vanessa Kirby), a younger woman, in a nice New York apartment. It is up to him to live and transmit to the viewer the horror of the depression of his son, who comes to live with him. We must salute the performance of Hugh Jackman, star of blockbusters where he often embodies powerful characters and sure of their strength, and who here is illustrated in an opposite register.




Peter Miller (Hugh Jackman) - The Son

If Peter's situation is initially enviable, it becomes hellish. His armor splits, fear and sorrow win him. Hugh Jackman does not really succeed in the incarnation of his character during the first third of the film, with first eruptions of vulnerability that seem artificial. But maybe his character himself doesn't quite grasp the extent of Nicholas' depression... In any case, it is as The Son develops that the actor finds his tempo and becomes entirely Peter.

During an exceptional and moving sequence where Peter visits his father, played by Anthony Hopkins, the latter's onslaught of cruelty finishes breaking him, sending him back to the child he once was. Peter is a father, but he is also a son, and vertigo activates: did he reproduce his own father's mistakes towards Nicholas? Did he become his father? Can he understand his own son with a father who doesn't?

A slow but spectacular outbreak
At first on a slow pace, the development of the character accelerates for the better, and finally Hugh Jackman perfectly embodies the tragic figure, toy and helpless witness of a terrible destiny. If the actor first shows some flaws in this register, they end up mixing with those of his character, sublimate, for a devastating final sequence.

Around him, nothing to complain about actresses Laura Dern and Vanessa Kirby, who appear on the margins but forcefully ensure their moments. They play roles that can be considered thankless, insofar as these roles are intended to mark the impenetrability of Nicholas' intimate drama, to remain on its surface, as if only his father Peter had a priori a key. Between a father and a son, there is a masculine matter, a mysterious drama of existence that belongs only to them, and this is how Florian Zeller stages it, leaving the women of this story, both mothers, at the borders of this world.

Kate Miller (Laura Dern) - The Son

We will obviously note the beautiful performance of Zen McGrath, who had not to do too much to make the often lethargic aspect of adolescent depression. Playing absence in the world is a challenge, and he perfectly conveys by his silences, his hesitations and his physical fragility, all the malaise of his character. Zen McGrath embodies the title role and is fundamental to the dramaturgy of The Son, but like the female characters, he is a supporting role for the main role, and ideally fulfills this function.

A more demanding film for Florian Zeller
To deal with Nicholas' adolescent depression, Florian Zeller's leeway is less than that offered by Anthony's Alzheimer's disease in The Father. There is therefore less "bravery" in the staging of The Son, which assumes its classicism from one end to the other. We retain a more accentuated camera shake during the confrontation scenes, camera that also offers often tight and fixed frames on centered characters. And as in The Father, no doubt a legacy of the theatrical nature and intimacy of these stories, there are almost no outdoor sequences, except for flashbacks of a trip to Corsica when Kate and Peter were still the united and happy parents of little Nicholas.

After The Father, it was objectively very difficult to deliver a cinematic performance of the same caliber. Thus, The Son does less well, and may appear in some respects less fine than the first film of its director. But it is nonetheless a beautiful melodrama, a brilliant exercise in tragic dramaturgy, and a perceptive and moving portrayal of adolescent depression.

Conclusion
Editor's note

A notch below the immense performance of "The Father", Florian Zeller nevertheless manages a very beautiful melodrama with "The Son", his second feature film and adaptation of his play. And what he loses in cinema, he perhaps gains in emotion, in this shocking tragedy about adolescent depression. The cast is brilliant, and Hugh Jackman is sublime in a dramatic register. To see.

4 of 5 *

[jo]

From a Spanish viewpoint --

As translated :
Based on a filmed review.

Review of 'The Son', with Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Zen McGrath

The critic of Libertad Digital and esRadio talks about this film starring Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern and that it is "a melodrama without complexes".

Andres Arconada
02/3/2023 - 08:13

Andrés Arconada speaks this week of El Hijo, "a melodrama without complexes". That is precisely what the critic of Libertad Digital and esRadio likes the most and since "lately melodramas are always hidden within the drama or something psychological, they do not get wet within what is a genre that has given great films in the cinema".


The Son stars Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern alongside the young Zen McGrath, "a truly spectacular trio." Also in the cast is Anthony Hopkins. The story is that of a successful executive (Hugh Jackman) who is in his second marriage and has just had a baby. However, one day his first wife (Laura Dern) appears at his house to ask for help with their teenage son from the first marriage. The young man no longer goes to school and the mother knows that something is wrong with him but cannot control it.


The teenager will end up living with his father and his current wife and the baby they have just had. It is at this moment when this man will begin "to establish a relationship with many chiaroscuros, with many reminiscences and even with much pain." What has been a classic melodrama. A pain that emerges in all the characters, not only in the adolescent. Hugh Jackman's character will go over in some way "everything that surrounds his previous life and his own childhood."


Arconada highlights El Hijo that it is "a film for those who like melodrama" and stresses that it is a film "very entertaining that does not intend more than to bring us closer to a tremendous story because sometimes it is so real that it is painful". The Son is "a painful film because it is not a complacent film, it does not pretend that we take positions but that we see the story and that somehow we enter the characters and the drama that they propose to us".

[jo]

FILM & TV
REVIEWS
MARCH 29, 2023
The son

Hugh Jackman gives us a powerful interpretation as a father who loves his son, but does not have the necessary tools to help him.

Florian Zeller
/ Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Zen McGrath, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Hopkins

BY ANDRÉ DIDYME-DÔME
IN SPANISH

As translate --

According to psychology and psychiatry, depression is a deep and intense sadness that we all try to avoid, because it is contrary to the feelings of happiness that almost everyone seeks. However, feeling depressed is not a sufficient condition to diagnose a depressive disorder. In fact, depressive periods are frequent in most people, and almost always arise after bereavement: failing a school test, losing a job, a breakup or the loss of a loved one due to the inevitability of death.

However, it has been seen that the biochemical imbalance caused by the lack of serotonin (a neurotransmitter related to happiness), and enzymatic disorders of the digestive system, can lead to endogenous depression, usually hereditary, which must be treated with psychiatric drugs in parallel with psychotherapeutic support.

The Son is a film is based on the play of the same name by Florian Zeller, which is a kind of prequel to The Father, the film with which the novelist and playwright debuted as a director. While The Father dealt in a sensitive and emotional way with the loss of sanity of a middle-aged man, caused by Alzheimer's (Anthony Hopkins would win the Oscar for his role), The Son explores depression, that serious mental health problem that is currently estimated, affects more than two hundred million individuals, causing an alarming number of cases of self-harm and suicide, especially in the adolescent population. Psychologists and psychiatrists speculate that we are living in an "Age of Depression."

Both the play and Zeller's film focus on a young man named Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who is battling this mental disorder and has attempted suicide several times. In a gradual way, the viewer will discover the conflicts that Nicholas has with his mother Kate (Laura Dern), with Beth (Vanessa Kirby), his father's new partner, and especially with Peter (Hugh Jackman), the lawyer father who has difficulty understanding his son's situation and does not know how to help him.

Jackman gives us a powerful performance as the father who abandoned the wife and son who adored him, to rebuild his life with a new wife and a baby child. And Hopkins, in a very brief appearance, distills poison when his son comes to visit him to find out how he is doing and, perhaps, to ask for advice.

Although this is a film with a less risky and more traditional mise-en-scène than that of The Father, and that the story is told from Peter's point of view and not from Nicholas, the film manages to show us in an assertive and eloquent way, how sadness generates rejection, lies and overwhelm both from those who suffer it and from the people around them. It also shows us how the separation of parents, even if it is done in the most friendly way possible, will always generate a devastating effect for the children. This makes The Son an uncomfortable and sad film, but necessary.

[/quote]

[jo]

es.rollingstone.com/el-hijo/

FILM & TV
REVIEWS
MARCH 29, 2023
The son

4 * of 5*

Hugh Jackman gives us a powerful interpretation as a father who loves his son, but does not have the necessary tools to help him.

Florian Zeller
/ Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Zen McGrath, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Hopkins

BY ANDRÉ DIDYME-DÔME
IN SPANISH

As translated --

According to psychology and psychiatry, depression is a deep and intense sadness that we all try to avoid, because it is contrary to the feelings of happiness that almost everyone seeks. However, feeling depressed is not a sufficient condition to diagnose a depressive disorder. In fact, depressive periods are frequent in most people, and almost always arise after bereavement: failing a school test, losing a job, a breakup or the loss of a loved one due to the inevitability of death.

However, it has been seen that the biochemical imbalance caused by the lack of serotonin (a neurotransmitter related to happiness), and enzymatic disorders of the digestive system, can lead to endogenous depression, usually hereditary, which must be treated with psychiatric drugs in parallel with psychotherapeutic support.

The Son is a film is based on the play of the same name by Florian Zeller, which is a kind of prequel to The Father, the film with which the novelist and playwright debuted as a director. While The Father dealt in a sensitive and emotional way with the loss of sanity of a middle-aged man, caused by Alzheimer's (Anthony Hopkins would win the Oscar for his role), The Son explores depression, that serious mental health problem that is currently estimated, affects more than two hundred million individuals, causing an alarming number of cases of self-harm and suicide, especially in the adolescent population. Psychologists and psychiatrists speculate that we are living in an "Age of Depression."

Both the play and Zeller's film focus on a young man named Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who is battling this mental disorder and has attempted suicide several times. In a gradual way, the viewer will discover the conflicts that Nicholas has with his mother Kate (Laura Dern), with Beth (Vanessa Kirby), his father's new partner, and especially with Peter (Hugh Jackman), the lawyer father who has difficulty understanding his son's situation and does not know how to help him.

Jackman gives us a powerful performance as the father who abandoned the wife and son who adored him, to rebuild his life with a new wife and a baby child. And Hopkins, in a very brief appearance, distills poison when his son comes to visit him to find out how he is doing and, perhaps, to ask for advice.

Although this is a film with a less risky and more traditional mise-en-scène than that of The Father, and that the story is told from Peter's point of view and not from Nicholas, the film manages to show us in an assertive and eloquent way, how sadness generates rejection, lies and overwhelm both from those who suffer it and from the people around them. It also shows us how the separation of parents, even if it is done in the most friendly way possible, will always generate a devastating effect for the children. This makes The Son an uncomfortable and sad film, but necessary.

The review by Rolling Stones-USA takes a dimmer view of the movie.

[jo]

Not too sure if I have printed this review here --

CineVue


17 FEBRUARY 2023

Film Review: The Son
JOHN BLEASDALE / REVIEWS


★★★★☆
“Love is not enough,” is the advice given to the parents in French playwright Florian Zeller’s sophomore feature film The Son, which closes the diptych begun by The Father. It is wise advice and goes against so much that we instinctively feel about parenting and childcare. All we need is love, surely? Unconditional love.

Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern play Peter and Kate, the divorced parents of troubled teenager Nicholas (Zen McGrath). Peter has a new baby with his new wife, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), but Nicholas has been skipping school for a month and walking aimlessly around the city, while Kate is at the end of her tether. When Nicholas expresses a wish to move in with his father, the situation is not ideal for anyone – least of all Beth, who sees her own new family being compromised. But Peter is keen to look after his son and, in doing so, perhaps have another crack at being a better father: something he feels guilty about abandoning.

The Son is far more conventional than The Father. In the latter, we were placed inside the point of view of a protagonist suffering from Alzheimer’s and, by swapping actors in certain roles and the geography of the apartment in which Antony Hopkins’ character lived, we gained an insight into how his experience actually feels. With The Son, we are on the outside of Nicholas’ depression and we flounder as badly as the other adults, who find themselves dismissing Nicholas’ condition as the usual teenage doldrums. “Have you ever known a teenager radiate happiness?” Peter asks Kate at one point. Nicholas himself seems to be the only one with a clear view of the state he is in. His explanation of self-harm is coherent but his father just wants him to stop: “There are some things you just don’t do!” he says, obviously baffled. Likewise, when Nicholas tells Kate “I’m not well”, she registers concern but not alarm.

But this is not to judge Peter and Kate. There are plenty of moments when they make the wrong decisions: sometimes even stupid decisions. They are not perfect parents, which is to say they are parents. But what The Son reveals brilliantly is how our roles as parents so often gets wrapped up in our own narcissistic tendencies. We want to live up to our self-image as a parent. We don’t just give and sacrifice: we want to be seen to be giving and sacrificing. We want to compare well to our peers and our own parents. Peter is competing with his own father (another wonderful turn by Anthony Hopkins) to some extent, whose acidic bonhomie burns like a 50-year-old Scotch on an empty stomach.

The performances across the board are excellent. McGrath manages to pull off the hardest role, having to maintain a connection with the audience while at the same time being true to the problems his character suffers from. Dern and Kirby are solid throughout, though the latter has to work hard to keep her peripheral character interesting. But this is really Jackman’s film, and The Son would probably have more accurately been titled The Father 2. His Peter is, to pinch Tom Wolfe’s phrase, a master of the universe: a wealthy businessman with an office view of the Empire State Building and a window of opportunity to go into politics, which adds to the pressure of looking after Nicholas.

Peter’s Dale Carnegie-esque positivity is riven with self-doubt and repressed guilt. We see his fun side as well, and he even gets a chance to pull out a dad dance to Tom Jones, which has to go down as a highlight of his career and a rare moment of warmth and humour in the film. But it is his desperate need to reconnect with his son which is blurring his vision as well. It’s a complete portrait and his aging, crumbly handsomeness suits it. He still polishes up well but his hair is a little too dark for that face; he’s a little too old for that new baby.

Zeller has proven himself a master of family portraits: the modern melodramatist par excellence. There might be something too polished – like the tables in the high-end Manhattan apartments – and slick for some: these are beautiful people with terrible problems. But even if so, Heller stands in a fine Hollywood tradition. The Son, though perhaps not as original and accomplished as The Father, is nevertheless an affecting, empathetic and intelligent drama.

John Bleasdale | @drjonty

[jo]

CK Review
@ckreview1
·
1h
#TheSon (English|2022) - NETFLIX.

Hugh Jackman scores well in emotional space, Conversation scenes with son r so gud. Anthony Hopkins short & sweet cameo. Film conveys a very imp msg abt Mental health, esp to all parents. Neat Drama. Quite Engaging & emotional. ONE TIME Watch!

Some say it is a hard watch, hence the suggestion of a "one-time watch".

I am glad I had read the play way before I saw the movie, so I knew what to expect. Did I lose something because of that? Not in my case -- I do like to read/watch advance material before I see something I am very interested in. Lol - I even bought the Old Man Logan (LOGAN) & Wolverine-saga (THE WOLVERINE) comic books before I saw the movies. One major exception - I read the huge volume of Les Miserables after I first saw the musical on Broadway. But I read it simultaneously one more time when it was filming. It so happened that I belonged to an IMDB discussion board which covered what was happening when they were filming. Although it was funny because filming was not occurring in the proper sequence... At some point, sound system man, Simon Hayes, joined us - guess what: he won the Oscar for his work in the movie... Btw, the first scene they filmed was the Lamarck funeral - we heard the students singing "Do you Hear the People Sing" - it was so exciting (someone was able to pick up the singing).

Lol - THE SON was filmed in a pandemic bubble. Strictly no people other than cast and crew. They hdd psychiatrists on set because of the emotional content of the material. Hugh said he took advantage of the opportunity to talk things over with them. Btw, his own father died before the scene at the end featuring the hallucination. He said it was very hard for him to do that scene.

Jo