''The Son'' is a 2022

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film directed by

Florian Zeller Florian Zeller (; born 28 June 1979) is a French novelist, playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, and film director. He won the Prix Interallié for his 2004 novel ''The Fascination of Evil'' and several awards for his plays. He wrote and ...

from a screenplay written by himself and

Christopher Hampton Sir Christopher James Hampton ( Horta, Azores, 26 January 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter, translator and film director. He is best known for his play ''Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' based on the novel of the same name and the film ...

. It is based on Zeller's 2018 stage play of the same name. The film stars

Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...

Laura Dern Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Born to actor Bruce Dern and ac ...

Vanessa Kirby Vanessa Nuala Kirby (born 18 April 1988) is an English actress. She has received several accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Born in London to urologist Roger Ki ...

, Zen McGrath, and Hugh Quarshie.

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...

has a minor appearance in this film playing the main character's father (but a different father from Zeller's previous film). ''The Son'' had its world premiere at the

79th Venice International Film Festival The 79th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 31 August to 10 September 2022. Juries Main Competition (Venezia 79) * Julianne Moore, American actress and author (Jury President) * Mariano Cohn, Argentine director, screenw ...

on 7 September 2022, and was released for a one-week limited theatrical release in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

on 25 November 2022, before a wide release in the United States on 20 January 2023 by Sony Pictures Classics. The film received mixed reviews from critics, though Jackman's performance received praise. At the

80th Golden Globe Awards The 80th Golden Globe Awards will honor the best in 2022 in film, film and 2022 in American television, American television of 2022, as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). It is scheduled to be held on January 10, 2023 fro ...

and

27th Satellite Awards The 27th Satellite Awards is an award ceremony honoring the year's outstanding performers, films and television shows, presented by the International Press Academy. The nominations were announced on December 8, 2022. The winners will be announced ...

, Jackman was nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.

Plot

Peter Miller is recently married to his second wife, Beth, and is raising their newborn baby. His ex-wife, Kate, unexpectedly shows up and says their 17-year-old son, Nicholas, is depressed and has dropped out of school. Although Peter barely knows Nicholas, he agrees to house him. Peter also has a terrible relationship with his own father, Anthony, who was cruel when he wasn't absent from Peter's life. However, Peter has moved on from his

childhood trauma Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and ...

and hopes to be a good father towards Nicholas. Despite trying to bond with Nicholas, Peter refuses to acknowledge that he has deeply wounded him by cheating on Kate. But when Nicholas attempts

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

and is placed in an in-patient treatment facility, Peter belatedly grasps his responsibility for the situation. A week later, Peter and Kate bring Nicholas home after feeling sympathetic to his pleas that he regrets the decisions that led to the facility. Once back home, Nicholas makes tea for his parents and happily talks about seeing a movie as a family. As he leaves to shower and his parents discuss how things seem better, Nicholas shoots himself dead. Shocked by his son’s sudden suicide, Peter fantasizes about what life could’ve been had Nicholas lived.

Cast

as Peter Miller *

as Kate Miller, Peter’s ex-wife *

as Beth, Peter's second wife * Zen McGrath as Nicholas Miller, Peter's estranged son who is struggling with depression. ** George Cobell as young Nicholas Miller * Hugh Quarshie as Dr. Harris, Nicholas' therapist *

as Anthony Miller, Peter's father and Nicholas' grandfather.

Production

During an interview via

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

after the 93rd Academy Awards nominations were announced, director/writer

revealed to ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' that he was finishing up an adaptation of one of his plays titled ''The Son''. In April 2021,

and

were cast to star in the film. In June 2021,

joined the cast of the film.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began in August 2021. As of October 2021, production had concluded. It was reported

and Zen McGrath had also joined the cast, the former of whom is reuniting with Zeller after working on '' The Father'' (2020), for which he won the

Academy Award for Best Actor The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...

Release

In July 2021, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film.

STX Entertainment STX Entertainment is a mini-major American entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projects. In April 2020, STX announced that it would merg ...

claimed the distribution rights for the UK, Benelux, Italy, Scandinavia and Iceland that same month. Despite STX's main international office in London shutting down, the company managed to release the film in the aforementioned territories. The film had its world premiere in-competition at the

on 7 September 2022. Its North American premiere took place at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

that same month on 12 September 2022. It also screened at the 2022 AFI Fest on 5 November 2022. The film was initially scheduled for a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States on 11 November 2022, with expansions in the following weeks, before its limited release was shifted to 25 November. Its US limited release was later shifted again to a one-week engagement from 25 November, only in limited

and

theaters, before a nationwide release on 20 January 2023. Although initially planned for 8 March 2023, the film was released in France on 1 March 2023.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 29%, based on 178 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Despite reliably solid work from Laura Dern and Hugh Jackman, ''The Son'' remains mired in off-puttingly aggressive melodrama."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Son, The American drama films British drama films French drama films British films based on plays French films based on plays Sony Pictures Classics films Films directed by Florian Zeller Films scored by Hans Zimmer American prequel films British prequel films French prequel films 2020s British films 2020s French films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films English-language French films English-language drama films