January 18, 2009
If you have yet to see "The Son", and you have any intentions of seeing it, I would suggest that you stop reading right now. The brilliance of "The Son" is not knowing what's coming next - the constant guessing game that leaves you pondering "what is he up to?". There's no inner ...( read more)monologue or subtext, we're simply anthropological observers watching a story unfold. You don't have to see the film a second or third time to understand all the complexities lying underneath. The Dardenne brothers, much like they did with their later film, "The Child", present all the information you need within the running time of the picture. Stylistically, these films are very slow, but the relentless focus puts the viewer in such an undeniable intense concentration that it's impossible to not appreciate. Their films remind me of two of my recent favorites, both Romanian - "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" and "4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days". The viewer has no say in what the characters do, nor do we know what they'll do next. Things simply unfold.
Olivier (Olivier Gourmet, who won the Best Actor award at Cannes 2002) is a Belgian carpenter. He teaches young boys how to use their equipment in an environment similar to our woodworking classes in high school. Much of the beginning moments of the film involve this mundane working class life - he teaches a boy how to use his meter stick and a power saw, and will observe and correct any mistakes as his students assemble their projects. Throughout the entire film we follow Olivier with an obsessive handheld camera.
One day, Olivier is asked if he can accept another apprentice. Olivier says he can't due too the class being too crowded, and tells the woman that the boy should try welding. Shortly thereafter this meeting, however, he stalks the woman down to see the boy in question. He observes cautiously, and eventually gets back to work. When the women confronts him again, he says he will take the boy into his class. Having not read about the film prior to seeing it (I was only interested in the Dardenne brothers), I had assumed that this was a film about a child molester. Why else would this man not welcome a young boy into his class before seeing him, and eventually even go track him down in a shower? All conventions of filmmaking would suggest that Olivier has sexual fantasies about these young boys, and he's a recluse who works at a wood shop to fulfill his desires. That is not at all what the film is about, but it is what the Dardenne's want us to think it is about.
The boy, Francis (Morgan Marinne), has just been released from a reform school and is anxious to start a new life. Unknowingly, however, he's taken an apprenticeship under a man who knows him very well. Years earlier, Francis had accidentally killed the child of Olivier and his wife during a botched car radio burglary. Olivier, this whole time, has recognized him - he tells his wife that Francis joined his class, and she disapproves of him mentoring such a monster. Olivier and Fracis will spend much of the film together alone, and everytime we see a carpet, a rope, or a bag we'll assume that this is a revenge film. I won't spoil the very end, but I will say that it never goes where you think it wants to go. This isn't a film with twist endings, either, it's simply a film that makes you draw your own conclusions - conclusions that will eventually be discarded.
Because of how intensely focused the handheld camera is in this film, many viewers will grow impatient. The Dardenne's seem to have this fascination with the mundane - simple monotonous activity such as eating is shown for minutes at a time. I would consider myself a patient viewer, and this film came close to testing me. However, it's the unpredictable nature of the story and Olivier's mysterious performance that leaves us hooked. The viewers are left at arms length from the inner workings of the characters, however it's impossible to not immerse yourself in the conflict depicted on screen.
The Dardenne brothers are fascinating directors who display an unheard of amount of patience and focus through their work. "The Son", like "The Child", is slow but endlessly engrossing. This film is understated from beginning to end, but it's really quite brilliant. Subscribers can check it out on NetFlix's Instant View.
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