THE SON

UK/US, 2022, 123 minutes, Colour.

Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath,

Directed by Florian Zeller.

When seeing the plain, bold title, The Son, many audiences will remember the equally bold title, The Father, the award-winning film of 2020, winning Anthony Hopkins his second Best Actor Oscar. While there have been many films about ageing and Alzheimer’s, The Father takes its place as one of the best of them. The audience was immersed in the central characters continual bewilderment, experiencing Alzheimer’s through their empathy with the father. The Father is currently available through SBS on demand.

Now, with a focus on a teenage son, the issues are more complex – although we might recognise the depressive behaviour of Nicholas (Melbourne actor Zen McGrath) before his parents belatedly realise their son’s condition. There has been some criticism of Zen McGrath’s performance, calling it one-note. But, how else does an actor communicate the inner depths of confusing depression, the loss of any zest for life, wishing out of life?

But, before we are introduced to the son, we are introduced to the parents. The film is, in fact, a star vehicle for Hugh Jackman (originally Sydney actor) who is able to combine charm with being unable to appreciate his son’s condition and how best to help. He is Peter, married for the second time, his wife is Beth (Vanessa Kirby, whose performance as a pregnant woman in Piece of a Woman should be seen). They have a newborn son. Then we meet Kate, a passionate Laura Dern and, Peter’s ex-wife with whom Nicholas lives. She is in some anguish because she discovers he does not go to school, does not want to live with her anymore.

And so, the stage is set for an exploration of adolescent mental illness, its effect on a teenager’s life, a more than melancholy grip from the inside, a longing for escape from this pressure of life. And the stage is set for relationships between parents and son, loving, yet inadequate, not perceptive, the parents dismayed as they discover more and more about the inner life of their son.

There is a powerful sequence when Peter visits his politically ambitious and successful father, Anthony Hopkins, whose only advice to his bewildered son is to get over himself, leaving Peter to wonder whether he is now repeating the patterns of his father’s treatment of him.

Then there is the profound issue of the effect on a child of the parents’ divorce.

Many audiences will bring their own and family experiences to this film, assessing the portrait of a depressed teenager, silent, sullen, taciturn, avoiding all responsibilities, cutting himself, wishing himself out of life. Some have been critical of how realistic this portrait is. Others, surrendering themselves to the characters and their uncertainties, their searching, will be caught up emotionally. Depending on age, perhaps, younger audiences well be empathetic towards the son. Older audiences, particularly parents and, more particularly, parents with adolescent children, will be empathetic towards the mother and father. They are trying to do their best but they discover their best is inadequate. Then there is the further complication of Nicholas moving in with his father and Beth, the little brother, and Beth becoming more and more aware of Nicholas’s condition.

Eventually, Nicholas spends time in hospital, the parents bewildered, Nicholas demanding to come home, and audiences being asked at the same time what decision would they make – his staying for treatment or his coming home?

The screenplay speculates at the end on what would happen if Nicholas were treated well – and if he refused treatment.

Writer-director, Florian Zeller, French playwright, working with British playwright and screenwriter of many decades, Christopher Hampton, draw us into observe the life and tragedy of The Son.

1. The title, the theme, father and son? Mother and son? Family?
2. The New York setting, the atmosphere of the city, buildings and streets, the skyline, apartments, offices, hospitals? The musical score and atmosphere, evocative?
3. The focus on family, the nuclear family, Peter and Kate, their marriage, the birth of Nicholas, the flashbacks to childhood, Nicholas as a baby, as a six-year-old, having the courage to swim? The breakdown of the marriage? Peter, the encounter with Beth, divorcing Kate, marrying Beth, the birth of their son? Nicholas and his living with his mother?
4. The portrait of Peter, in himself, successful at law, business, promotions, colleagues, the invitation for the political campaign, the meetings? His relationship with Beth, at home, the baby? His prospects? And the memories of his demanding father? The importance of the visit to his father, the portrait of his father, business, hard, scoffing at his son, the meal, the discussions, the memories, the brusque attitude of the father, telling Peter to get over himself, no sympathy? And Peter’s growing awareness that he was repeating his father’s pattern with Nicholas?
5. Kate, loving Peter, the happy years, the divorce and its effect on her, Nicholas with her, adolescent, her concern, visiting Peter at the apartment, the story about Nicholas not going to school, Nicholas not wanting to stay with Kate, wanting to stay with Peter?
6. Beth, her relationship with Peter, the baby, their love for each other? The prospect of Nicholas moving in, her accepting this, preparing the room? Her time with Nicholas, discovering the truth that he was not going to school, telling Peter? The dinner date, no babysitter, her not wanting Nicholas to be babysitter, his overhearing her comments, the issue of the disappearing earrings and his returning them?
7. Nicholas, his age, the comment about his one-note performance, then dramatising and adolescent immobilised by depression? Loner, avoiding school, walking, cutting himself, the knife under the bed and Beth discovering it? Peter and his confrontation about the knife, not understanding? Nicholas, the day at school, not returning? The background of his writing? The story of his going to the party, his father buying him the jacket? Watching television? His seeming to improve? Smiling?
8. Peter, his being busy, away from home, the prospect of the campaign, support from his colleagues? The phone calls about Nicholas, coming home, confronting Nicholas, the discussions, his not appreciating the depression, and his demands on his son, like his father on him?
9. Nicholas and his constant reference to the happy times when his parents were together, the blame for the divorce, his father hurting Kate and himself, Nicholas and his feelings of inferiority because of the divorce and the consequences?
10. The therapist, Nicholas and his discussions? Seeming improvement, Nicholas cutting himself, Beth discovering him, the ambulance, in hospital?
11. The role of the doctors and nurses? Peter and Beth, the interviews, wanting to see Nicholas? His staying in hospital for several days, the coming of the interview? The psychiatrist? His advice, wanting stabilisation, more treatment? Nicholas 17, his parents having the right decision about his future at that time?
12. The audience, listening to the arguments, Nicholas coming in, his plea, not wanting to be in hospital, not trusting the doctors and nurses, pleading? What would the audience do?
13. The decision, signing the papers, Nicholas coming home, his seeming happiness, Kate and Peter thinking they had made the right decision? The shot – and the background of the rifle in the house, the gift of Peter’s father, hunting, but Peter never using it?
14. The dramatic effect of the what if…? Several years later, Nicholas and college, in Toronto, his girlfriend, moving in, writing the novel, the gift to his father, the dedication, wanting to see Theo, his brother?
15. And then seeing Peter, standing alone, talking with Beth, the regrets at what might have been?
16. A drama about mental illness, teenage depression, the role of family, psychiatrists?