Directed by Florian Zeller
Starring Hugh Jackman, Zen McGrath, Laura Dern, and Vanessa Kirby

On my way to the screening of The Son, I noticed that this film is directed by the same man who recently adapted The Father from stage to screen. Furthermore, I also read that like The Father, The Son is also taken from a play by Academy Award ® winning writers Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton. Knowing the triumphant success The Father deservedly was, I wondered if The Son were a sequel or prequel in some way given these connections and also because The Father’s Oscar-winning lead performer, Anthony Hopkins (best performance of any in 2021), also features in The Son (albeit in very few scenes!). However, after I watched this film, I abandoned any such curiosities I held going in. Well, as it turns out, there is in fact a connection! You see, The Father is based on a 2012 French play called Le Père, which is part of a trilogy that includes Le Fils and La Mère. Any guesses for which of the two translates to The Son? Yep, you got it, Le Fils! Time for Moviedoc to get fluent in French as I’ve just added seeing this trilogy to my bucket list! 

As most of us hopefully know, Florian Zeller’s The Father was, among other things, a masterful, confronting and deeply poignant examination of dementia. Take that affirmation as confirmation it is a must-watch movie if you are yet to see it. 

The Son, put plain and simple, is a depiction of depression. But it does not deal with depression in a plain and simple way, despite whatever negativity you may be hearing from various critics. More on that shortly. 

Coming back, just momentarily, to connections to The Father. Many of The Son’s conversational and confrontational scenes are set inside small rooms of its characters homes. So, you can therefore expect the production design to make the rawness of the dialogue and situation feel equally confronting. It’s fair to say The Son often looks and feels the same as The Father. As we’re not experiencing a film via the eyes of someone suffering from dementia, The Son is never confusing as The Father masterfully was. Instead, viewers will likely feel immense frustration at how all characters that care for and love young Nicholas Miller (played by Melbourne-born actor Zen McGrath) deal with his severe depression, but I have no doubt this is as completely intentional as that construction of confusion in The Father.

In what is admittedly gut-wrenching to witness, Nicholas is in a world of pain. Pain that is as invisible as it is inescapable. He shifts from home with Mum (played by Laura Dern) to his dad’s (Hugh Jackman – nominated for a Golden Globe ® for this performance), who now has a baby with new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby), in hope that change will bring the happiness he desperately wants and seeks. Instead, it unearths more pain. The anger he (unwittingly) has been harbouring towards his father for the pain he caused by leaving Nicholas and his mother for Beth rises to the surface. In no time at all, Nicholas realises those same characteristics that make him feel like an outsider to the world around and that voice inside his head have all but followed him.

When you don’t possess the capabilities or haven’t been taught the tools to healthily manage such severe and overwhelming thoughts and feelings, you can easily depend entirely on your caregivers or those who are there to love, support and care for you. If you’re fortunate enough to have such people in your life, I should add. In Nicholas’ case, he is (kind of). Though he understandably struggles to clearly articulate what’s going on inside his head, he is able to and does cry out for help. This alone is brave and a show of strength. Ultimately though, what takes place in The Son, is a frustrating yet not unrealistic representation of how depression is ‘managed’ by those who don’t recognise or understand depression when confronted with it. The consequences of not acknowledging or truly listening let Nicholas down time and time again. So, to those critics who were dissatisfied with The Son’s portrayal of depression, I hope The Son can help you to recognise the value in tackling a real problem in dealing with depression itself. The solution to this problem makes itself powerfully apparent. 

In closing, The Son was also subject to criticism for being melodramatic. There may be certain scenes that lunge to a more emotional impact than they need to, but to label the entire film melodramatic is a melodramatic over-reaction in itself. 

The Son is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from February 9th.

Moviedoc thanks Transmission, See Saw and TM Publicity for the invite to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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