The Son

As someone who has seen the suffering off depression first hand, this movie is spot on with the overwhelmingness of it...as well as the ignorance and dismissal of it by those close that cannot understand. Zen McGrath did an amazing job in his role!

Perfect example of how broken homes, both parents working and not actually "knowing" their child is becoming the norm and it has devastating effects. The acting is nothing to write home about but the overall message to parents is what the focus should be on.

I enjoyed this film. I am not sure what was better, the acting or cinematography. Beautifully shot and well acted, the cast all played their parts well and believable. I think that this topic of mental illness comes in all shapes and sizes and should engage us more.

The Son is an overwrought and overly histrionic film that overstays its welcome. Florian Zeller is a celebrated French playwright and filmmaker and this is based on one of his plays. I guess it's a spiritual successor to The Father, but that film was subtle and deeply resonant. This film starts with promise but doesn't finish the job. Peter is a successful New York lawyer. He is divorced from Kate, who lives with their teenage son Nicholas. Peter is now in a relationship with Beth and they have just had a baby. Everyone's lives are turned upside down when Nicholas is continually absent from school. He comes to live with Peter but he suffers from depression and circumstances just go from bad to worse. This should be a good film about fatherhood and mental health but it's bogged down by an overwrought script and simplistic plotting. Performances are reasonable but I feel Hugh Jackman doesn't quite have the chops to play this sort of role. Zeller is more than capable of making a fine film, but it's not on display here.

It addresses a dark and real life subject matter which promises a rewarding story yet the substance ends there. Suggesting depression is predominantly random does not fulfil an arc, it is as superficial as it is tragic. I would at least applaud confronting the unpopular truth however it made light of it in rejecting any intricacies or morals that shape the relationships.

I like the messages in the film: 1.) Kids basically need healthy parents in an intact home from birth until 18. 2.) The damage splitting up a home takes on youth especially when they are suffering a crisis while shuffling between 2 homes--the parents will have extraordinary difficulties working together for the child's sake. 3.) The guilt parents feel following a divorce makes for some very poor decision-making in the name of making the child "happy" (as immediate gratification) rather than responsible decision-making unmarred by "guilt." Unfortunately, the subject-matter of the film is rather solemn and the characters are quite annoying and even a little stupid at times, but ain't that the way life realistically is? Hmm...

Very realistic. I saw my own son in Nicholas. A bright sweet child and then unbeknownst mental illness and depression manifests in late teens. We don't know is this normal teen angst, a phase, being a brat, getting high? just when you all think it's getting better and brighter, normal, over the hump. Gone. Whether reaching for a pill, knife or other escape. The torture of a young unquiet mind. They didn't know. I didn't know. And no, life does not go on for a grieving parent. Thank you for making this movie. I hope parents and teens watch this and understand mental illness and health are not to be judged and can be helped before it's too late.

The son shot himself how? Are you telling me the dad left the shotgun in the laundry room? The dad left the gun in the house? Are we to assume this? If this is supposed to be the case, then this whole movie is the silliest thing ever written. They know their son is suicidal but they leave a gun in the house?? That's only the worst of all the ridiculous things we are supposed to believe. How about after they find a knife under the son's mattress. A short time later the dad thinks it's an okay idea for the son to babysit the baby. The wife, understandably, is having none of that. Dad is upset that his wife does not agree to this and a huge argument ensues. Even the most delusional dad would not allow his possibly homicidal/suicidal son to watch their newborn baby. Right?? The fact that these characters do such insane things makes us lose respect for them as characters. And not believe them as characters. And we become not invested in the story because it is all too unbelievable. Then, they let the son come home from the psychiatric hospital. Even though this seems like an incredibly unwise decision, we can possibly believe the parents thought it was the right thing, since they are desperate to bring their son home since he seems so miserable there. They want to believe he will be all right. Again, terrible decision, but it's possible that this could happen. So what happens when they finally get home? They all sit on the couch smiling goofily at each other, and within 5 minutes they let their son just disappear into another room. To "take a shower". Basically as soon as they walk in the door they give him an opportunity to kill himself. You would think at least within the first 5 minutes that they would still have a slight bit of trepidation over letting the son disappear. Also odd and unbelievable is when the son speaks to the wife about his bitter feelings about his father's divorce from his mother, and the fact that his father met up with the wife while he was still married to his mother- and yet the wife never tells the dad about this conversation. Why on Earth would not the wife say, you know what? Your son talked to me today and boy, is he pissed off at what you did. And it sounds like he's pissed at me too for dating you while you were still married. Nope, she never says it. Aside from unbelievable things happening, the acting from the guy playing the son is not so hot. All the scenes where he is supposed to be in pain and whimpering and pleading, were just irritating. Laura Dern is a great actress but she is not given much to do here besides look concerned and fret. Hugh Jackman is very good but not quite up to the level that he needs to be. If there's anything good to say about this movie, it is the last scene. As soon as the dad is seen talking to his now successful, well-adjusted son, I knew that this had to be a fantasy. And indeed we see that it is. And when we look at the empty room, knowing that the son is not there at all, it is truly heartbreaking.

I liked this movie more than the critics. I didn't think it was overly melodramatic - although it is melodrama. But I thought it was honest melodrama. Anyone who has ever had a teenager knows how slippery a slope it is. This film deals with that long slide downwards.

I got quickly annoyed with his slow developing the movie was. Nicholas was rather an irritating and weak character that could not get over the divorce. Really? He needed to be put on meds. Instead, both parents pretended to care about him without seeing the big picture. Parents are both idiots. The son came to the mother saying he needed help and she hugged him and send him off to his father. I could not finish watching the movie. Waste of my time.