Review: The Son – Trouble in the Family

Directed by Florian Zeller
Starring Hugh Jackman, Vanessa Kirby, Laura Dern, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins

5/10

It’s hard to review a film that hardly even feels like a film. Maybe The Son is technically a film, as it has characters, somewhat of a story, a very tiny amount of conflict, and a theme that it kind of follows through with. But this film is so malnourished you’re left waiting for the story to actually start, and it feels as if it never gets going.

Peter (Hugh Jackman) is in a new happy marriage with his partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby), who’ve just had a baby. From his previous marriage is his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) and their son Nicholas (Zen McGrath), and although Peter is still close to the two of them, it becomes evident that their son, who has been skipping school, is experiencing a heavy bout of teen depression.

And that’s really it. You may be expecting a touch more conflict going on here, and there is the smallest amount towards the film’s conclusion, but the film just doesn’t seem to have the intent to make what should be an important story actually interesting to watch. Unlike another recent sentimental film about self-destructive depression, The Whale, this just flat-out lacks the characterisation that makes the struggles of the characters illuminating, identifiable, and edifying.

To actually give the film some kind of praise, it’s at least earnest with how it approaches depression and self-harm. It’s probably not giving out any great advice, and hardly seems to be of much comfort to anyone going through something similar, but it doesn’t appear to be getting anything completely wrong or even showing a demeaning attitude in any way to at risk youth.

But perhaps because the film doesn’t take any chances with its depiction of mental health and keeps itself so reserved is why it’s so flimsy. A lot of it is just back and forth between Peter and Nicholas, and it frankly gets exhausted and reiterative very quickly. There’s just nothing to really keep this film alive and fresh. Director Florian Zeller used moviemaking trickery in his previous film (appropriately named The Father) to envelop the audience into the waning mind of a dementia sufferer. There’s nothing like that here in this incredibly static and inert film.

The Son feels less like a film and more like a dramatisation that you’d find on a DVD about teen depression. As opposed to what The Whale says about depression, it feels like a pamphlet in comparison.

DAVID MORGAN-BROWN