Review: Emotionally Vapid Drama Has Nothing To Say
a boy
Sony Pictures Classic
Florian Zeller's new film centers on a father who can't get along with his child and doesn't know how to help him.
It's clear that Peter's (Hugh Jackman) child is suffering from depression, but it's not clear why. This is a reality that can be true for many parents. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that Zeller is more interested in manipulating the audience's emotions than exploring the subject with more nuance and thought.
The Son, adapted from Zeller's 2018 play, follows Peter when his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) shows up one day. She worries about her son Nicholas (Jane McGrath), who hasn't been to school for a month and is self-harming. Peter convinces Nicholas to move back in with him and his new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby) while he tries to figure out what happened to her - an effort that turns his life into an emotional mess.
Following the success of Celer's first film, Father (2020), his sequel was naturally highly anticipated. With a star-studded cast, a great screenplay by Christopher Hampton (whose credits include Atonement and Dangerous Liaisons), and an emotionally charged story, it seemed like The Son couldn't fail. Well, somehow he did.
McGrath, who plays the film's titular son, is terribly fake and completely unconvincing in the role. This makes it very difficult for any audience to sympathize with him; The reading of his lines becomes increasingly melodramatic and unbelievable as the hero personifies his grief. While Dern and Kirby's games have some great moments that sound believable, the weak storyline doesn't give them much to do. Jackman in the title role makes the strongest impression here, vividly portraying his character's remorse and inability to help his son through difficult times with his simple gaze.
The biggest problem with Zeller and Hampton's script is the vague portrayal of mental health issues in the memos. It's clear that their efforts here were aimed at bringing much-needed attention to the mental health issues many young people face, but perhaps that wasn't the story they intended to tell.
Nikolai is a poorly written character who is constantly in visible pain, as if the viewer needs constant reminders of his suffering in order to empathize with him. Not being able to tell the subtle warning signs that someone is in pain, or the subtle warning signs that a depressed person is trying to hide from others what they are really feeling, backfires. In the end, when the story borders on porn trauma, the audience is left with only bitterness.
Although the two stories are quite different, The Father and The Son are similar in that they were both adapted from Zeller's plays. "Dad" managed to make it to the big screen thanks to its unique cinematic choices, such as subtle shifts in the design of a house to allow dementia to affect someone's perception of time.
Unfortunately, "Son" does not have the previous success. The production is very theatrical and overly staged, missing important moments between real and real characters. The cinematography and visual tone of the film are also unsatisfactory, leaving the heavy lifting to the script (it's not strong enough for that). Even Hans Zimmer's assessment seems more contrived.
Behind the film's emotional pulse and tearful acknowledgment of grief and loss, it's hard to see how little Zeller and Hampton said at the end of the day.
