Florian Zeller's film The Son, 2022 This is one of the parts of the “family” trilogy of Zeller, consisting of three plays – “Mother”, “Father” and “Son” and although in some places the film “Son” is called a prequel to the film “Father”, I will not agree with this, after all, there are fathers and stories a little different.
Hero Peter (Hugh Jackman) lives with his much younger wife and young son, everything seems to be going well, including his job, where he is finally offered the job he has long dreamed of. When Peter’s ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) bursts into this beauty, one evening she tells him that their 17-year-old son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) has been out of school for a long time, which she discovers quite by accident, because he collects all his things in the morning and allegedly goes to school. It turns out that Nicholas wants to live with his father. The father, realizing that he really paid little attention to his son, disappearing at work all the time, and then taking care of the new family, does not object to this, and the son moves to live with him. At first, it seems that things are beginning to get better, however, sometimes Nicholas the new wife of his father Beth (Vanessa Kirby) will reproach the fact that she did not particularly think about the fact that her current husband was married and had a son when she met him, then the father will be reminded of the pain that brought his mother and him their divorce. It turns out that Nicholas is not attending school this time. In between, we see Peter meet his father (in this small role we see Anthony Hopkins), hear them talk and understand why Peter tries not to repeat his father’s mistakes, tries to be a good father for Nicholas. And then the events take on a completely tragic character. The boy has a mental disorder, the doctor warns that he should be kept in the hospital, but the parents follow the guy’s lead, taking him from there, and then they will only have the rest of their lives to regret it.
I can’t say that the film is outstanding, but I still don’t agree with the outpouring of criticism that this film has received. The actors play well, and the topic is quite serious, and for some, I think it is quite relevant.