Directed by : Florian Zeller 

It's just, I'm not made like other people. Sometimes I feel like I'm not made for this life.

Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Zen McGrath in a still from 'The Son'

Spoilers ahead...


Peter (Hugh Jackman) is happy with his wife Beth (Vanessa Kirby) and their newborn child Theo. Just then, his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) knocks at his door giving him news about his son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) who hasn't been himself for quite a while. She also recently discovered thanks to a call from school, that he's been skipping the school for over a month now. The rest story deals with acute depression and mental illness, as Peter and Kate try to get Nicholas happy and safe. 

Florian Zeller last directed 'The Father' which was a complex and very horror look at dementia in old age people where throughout as a viewer we never knew what we see is real or just an imagination from an excellent Anthony Hopkins. 'The Son' however is much simpler atleast on surface and its lot more dramatic trying to get your emotional support rather than building it organically. And that's where this film disappoints. 

There's a lot going on which is why its still a decent watch. We have worrying parents that want their son to get well, yet many times they are not able to see the red flags or how easily they get manipulated to believe what their son tells them. I don't know if I should call this bad writing or do such parents exist.. there's 2 scenes that made me very surprised. 

One is when Nicholas joins new school mid-semester and Peter doesn't care to secretly follow Nicholas for atleast a few days if not a week because surely it would cross his mind 'what if my son is again skipping? So, why not confirm it?' And other one is, where Peter and Kate made a huge decision to bring Nicholas back home rather than him getting a psychiatric treatment his current condition demands. Why on earth would they leave a gun in the bathroom, infact any parent would ideally go home and remove all pointy things like knife or anything that can help him kill himself way out of his reach. Totally hard to believe any caring parent would make such a blunder. 

These few mistakes even could had been ignored if we were shown more of  what Nicholas felt he was going through, rather we just keep getting scenes where he says the lines 'I am in pain'. In last film 'The Father', the narrative was too good because it was told from point of view of Anthony Hopkins, whom we could never trust and yet many times we felt bad for him, there was always a contradictory feeling all the time. How different 'The Son' would had been if it was told from Nicholas point of view throughout, all the scenes of Peter's workplace didn't really add much to the narrative apart from showing how distant he was from Nicholas in this serious phase. It would had been good to see what was cooking inside the head of Nicholas at few of the occasions or show some of his walks when he skips school. Just saying this person is suffering from depression isn't enough. 

What does work for me are the use of flashback from a trip when Peter with Kate and Nicholas was very happy, and we can see how Peter feels guilty that maybe it's his fault that Nicholas has changed so much now. His divorce had deep effect on his son and he is unable to do anything now. Hugh Jackman excels in the role despite the writing team not giving him enough to shine through, he still brings out a desperate (to some extent) father who wants Nicholas to be fine but time and again brings out the parenting he himself received (Interestingly, Anthony Hopkins plays his dad in a very well done one scene they have) by making Nicholas go through questions he doesn't want to be asked.

Both Vanessa Kirby and Laura Dern are pretty good too. You can feel Beth is trying her best in the wanting conditions, and she's brave to directly say to Peter that Nicholas headspace isn't right and not someone who should be trusted. To be honest, I felt that if Beth was the mother of Nicholas, maybe she would have been lot more careful. 

The 'Death can wait' scene is emotional, it did get to me.. and for a moment I believed that maybe it's real and they did save Nicholas. 

Overall, 'The Son' boasting of a great cast and the director that gave us the wonderful 'The Father' doesn't live up to the expectations. 

My Rating : 6/10