When I watched The Father back in 2020, I was astonished. The film, about a man named Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) suffering from Alzheimer’s, and his strained relationship with his daughter (Olivia Colman), was an authentic portrayal of what it’s like emotionally to deal with a difficult illness. Films about Alzheimer’s tend to focus on the perspective of the one suffering, but The Father dared to reckon with how the people around them suffer as well.
The film was the accomplished debut from writer-director Florian Zeller, who adapted his own play to brilliant effect. The film went on to earn six Oscar nominations, winning two—one for Best Screenplay, the other for Best Actor (for Hopkins). That’s an impressive haul for a first film—but not a surprising one, based on how well the film explored Anthony’s interiority. Through his masterful handling of diegetic space and storytelling, Zeller immediately reached the top of my radar, and I awaited his next project with great anticipation.
That next project is here—and it’s The Son, also based on one of Zeller’s plays. (The Holy Ghost isn’t yet in the works, but I choose to hold out hope.) The film follows Nicholas (Zen McGrath), a 17-year-old who feels like he can’t live with his mother Kate (Laura Dern) anymore. He seeks refuge from his inner turmoil by moving in with his father Peter (Hugh Jackman), a successful businessman, Peter’s new partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and their infant son. But Beth meets Nicholas with trepidation, and Peter receives a major new job opportunity, so he barely gives his son the time of day.
But Peter needs to start paying attention, as Nicholas is in crisis. It turns out he hasn’t been to school in a month, something that stuns both Kate and Peter. In a moment between Nicholas and his father, he makes his pain clear, saying “I don’t know what’s happening to me.” It’s clear their son needs help that neither of them can provide—or rather, it’s clear to everyone who’s watching the film, but this staggeringly obvious fact seems to elude both parents for some time.
It pains me to say that The Son isn’t merely a disappointing follow-up to The Father. It’s also a dreadful, irresponsible movie. The real issue is its fatal misunderstanding of mental illness: it’s like every line is read directly from a pamphlet called “How not to talk about mental health.” All of this is manifested in the film’s gobsmackingly awful ending. If for some reason you’re still keen to see The Son—and I wouldn’t blame you; I was excited once—now is the time to leave, because a whole lot of spoilers are coming your way. (I’m not entirely sure you can spoil a movie like The Son, which telegraphs its every move, but hey, I can understand not wanting to know the ending before you see it.)
Things have been getting progressively worse throughout the film—for Nicholas, for his parents, and frankly, for everyone watching—and every moment it seems as if things will improve, they end up getting worse. In one moment, Nicholas happily dances with his father and Beth, and seconds later, Peter and Beth embrace and completely forget that Nicholas is even there. Another scene finds Nicholas offering to babysit his baby half-brother, only for Beth to freak out over the mere idea of a “weirdo” like Nicholas taking care of her child. This constant—and I really do mean constant—cycle of lifting Nicholas up and letting him down makes the film’s conclusion even more obvious.
After all the mistakes and slights his parents make that would feel right at home in an after-school special, Nicholas finally attempts to take his own life. Thankfully he’s found in time, and Nicholas’ parents decide to put him in intensive psychiatric care. Well, it’s not so much that they decide to get Nicholas the help he needs; it’s more that a physician forces their hand to do so, and they…
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