Directed By Florian Zeller

Starring – Hugh Jackman, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Hopkins

The Plot – The film centers on Peter (Jackman), whose hectic life with his infant and new partner Beth (Kirby) is upended when his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) appears at his door to discuss their son Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who is now a teenager. The young man has been missing school for months and is deeply troubled. Peter strives to take care of Nicholas as he would have wanted his own father (Hopkins) to have taken care of him while juggling his and Beth’s new son, and at work an offer of a dream position in Washington. However, by reaching for the past to correct its mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold onto Nicholas in the present.

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content involving suicide, and strong adult language

THE SON | Official Trailer (2022) – YouTube

POSITIVES

Like Zeller’s previous film, “The Father”, “The Son” is a film where the aesthetics of the production designs tell the story, granting insight into the atmospheric relevance of acute depression for the benefit of audience intepretation. As to where editing and set design cast an immense prominence towards articulating the displacement of dementia in that aforementioned 2021 picture, so too does the color grading and framing for “The Son”, channeling a coldly somber and weathered rendering to the movie’s presentation that immediately conveys the unnerving elephant in the room that subconsciously and continuously hangs over the characters at all times. It’s not appealing in an artistically vibrant and decorated manner that we’re used to expecting from cinema, but it does permeate an underlining consistency of alternative reality within the film’s many interactions and complex character dynamics, providing proof for the pudding of Zeller’s desire thus far in his career to challenge his audience with unsettling style in the same way he conjures bold substance. Speaking of those character dynamics, the script does have an abundance of problems that I will get to later, but the one element of the screenplay that I felt did work was highlighting “The Son” as a cautionary tale of sorts for the signs in teenage depression that often get overlooked in the diagnosis. This is a film that definitely pulls no punches in execution, leading to a few uncomfortable moments that echo the ignorance of its characters, all the while inscribing a message of urgency with respect to the people we care for, and how hands-on dedication is always the best manner in spotting the signs before it’s too late. Finally, the film is mostly acted to satisfaction, but especially from Jackman and Dern who embody a divorced couple whose lives have taken alternative paths since its crumbling. Dern channels a weightlesness and corresponding frailty to Kate that takes her character miles, despite her receiving a supporting role in screen time, and Jackman’s dependable gravitational pull in another lead role supplants an overwhelming element of regret for the decisions that have defined Peter’s life, with Hugh’s palpable rage and overwhelming longing serving as the perfect balance to his impeccable charisma that often dominates the screen.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, “The Son” is an inescapable wet blanket of an experience that already in January will inevitably serve as my single most disappointing film of the year. A lot of the reason for that is in the confines of this shallow and undercooked script from Zeller, which not only insultingly illustrates a one-dimensional surface level delve to the very complex condition of depression, but also alienates us aplenty across the direction of the film from ever even experiencing it first-hand from Nicholas’ perspective. Focusing the film on the adults is a compelling angle to see the extent of who the condition affects, but at the cost of pivotal screen time for Nicholas? No thank you, and because we’re mostly told instead of shown the problems plaguing the boy, Zeller never even attempts to tackle this in ways that feel beneficial to any outsider seeking knowledge, leaving the plagued feeling like the least important character in a movie pertaining to him. Beyond this, the tonal consistency of melodramatic vapidness dulls the engagement throughout a nearly two hour run time, leaving us with an indulgence in victimization that even for the big screen feels a bit insensitive for how it continuously sets up these characters for inevitable disaster. Most of this falls on the baffling one-dimensional stupidity of the characterization, where red flags that can be seen from ten miles away are often overlooked by these detestably insensitive parental units looking to downgrade the seriousness of the situation. This leads to appalling dialogue of the most ill-timed variety, especially in the case of Kirby’s Beth and McGrath’s Nicholas, who each feel plucked directly from a Hallmark movie, and not even the temporary gleeful Christmas ones. On the subject of McGrath, as much as it pains me to say this, he’s completely unfit for the role. Not only is his emotional dexterity consistently underwhelming during confrontational scenes, complete with a lack of tears to his adolescent moaning, but he also feels lifeless in on-screen presence, with some moments leaving me forgetful that he was even there in the first place. The film is also heavily predictable, whether in the temporary resolutions of character conflicts, or a third act climax that was easily pegged out during the opening fifteen minutes of the movie. Because Zeller telegraphs so many of his intended movements, it often left me a step ahead of these mindless parental units at all time, in turn cementing little to no redeeming value for me along the way, while I remained in search of something, anything to fight the overwhelming boredom that that struck unavoidably by the film’s second act.

OVERALL
In the case of “The Son”, the apple does indeed fall very far from the tree, cementing a sophomore slump for Zeller that doesn’t depict depression with half of the care or artistic articulacy of its superior predecessor. Though Jackman and Dern make the most of the mundane material, the focus never strays from their respective characters, in turn cementing a manipulative melodrama that sacrifices humanity and logic for egregious gut punches of the most tasteless variety.

My Grade: 4/10 or D