The Son (2023)
Directed by Florian Zeller
Sony Pictures Classic, 123 minutes, PG-13 (language, trauma)
★★★★★
I won’t tell you that The Son is a fun night of viewing, but I will say that it’s a powerful, well-acted film. In 2020, director Florian Zeller gave us The Father, which was certainly one of that year’s best. Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar that year for his role as Anthony, an imperious pater familias suffering from dementia and delusions.
The Son is also about a toxic family. Some have called it a sequel to The Father, though it could be considered either a different film altogether or a prequel. Hopkins again appears as Anthony, this time with the surname of Miller and is fully in command of his faculties, though he is an acidic right-winger without an ounce of pity or compassion. The title character Peter Miller (Hugh Jackman), is estranged from his father and is determined to be a better man and father.
The Son is based on the question of whether the Italian proverb “what’s bred in the bone will not go out of the flesh” is a biological imperative. Peter isn’t off to a great start. His son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) is dealing with childhood trauma, his anger and deep sadness of observing his father cheat on his mother Kate (Laura Dern). The two amicably divorce, but years later Nicholas carries unhealed scars. At 17, Nicholas insists he can no longer live with his mother, has dropped out of school, and begs his father and his second wife Beth (Vanesa Kirby) to take him in as he wants to turn his life around.
Peter views this as his chance to make amends and be a good father to Nicholas, though Beth is leery. Things go well and not so well. It’s clear that Nicholas is on an emotional roller coaster. A suicide attempt lands Nicholas in an in-patient mental health facility and Peter isn’t sure which way to turn. He visits his father with pretense of checking in on him, but really in the vain hope he has late-in-life wisdom to offer. Hah! He gets nothing but venom and contempt from Anthony. He also seeks advice from Kate, with whom he remains friendly, because Beth is focused on their newborn child whose safety is her primary concern.
Nicholas is deeply unhappy and hates the facility. In a tearful conference, Nicholas insists he’s better and begs his father to take him home. Beth isn’t keen on the idea and Nicholas’ counselor, Doctor Harris (Hugh Quarshie), insists in the strongest possible terms that Nicholas needs much more treatment. But when Nicholas gives his word that he has conquered his demons, what would you do if you were Peter?
Each of the five central actors–Jackman, Dern, Kirby, McGrath, and Hopkins–are riveting. Hopkins only has what amounts to a cameo role, but his performance is more than enough to make you suspect that the Millers might be cursed. It also makes you wonder if escape or redemption is possible. Jackman wears his desperation on his sleeve and would move heaven and earth to do the right thing–if only he knew for certain what it was. Maybe the women involved know, but Dern and Kirby have their own concerns and doubts. Young Zen McGrath excels in planting seeds of hope tinged with fear in the hearts of all involved.
Does everything turn out well? You might think so. You might be right. You might be wrong. On the surface The Son is a film short on action if your idea of a drama involves thriller sequences. Ah, but such things are movie devices that seldom bear resemblance to reality. As Tolstoy famously remarked, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” In literature and film, he couldn’t have hit the nail any more squarely on the head. How long could a novelist or a screen writer sustain a tale of a happy family? Fifty pages? Fifteen minutes?
The Son is an interior movie based upon a play by Zeller and Christopher Hampton. In either form it is provocative and shattering. In the popular mind, families are the stuff of Bob Ross paintings, Hallmark cards, and inspirational quotes. The reality is much messier.
Rob Weir
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