La Mort d'un Fils

I saw this film in health class. And I have to disagree with the previous comment. I'm not some ditzy teenager. I happen to be one of the best students in my school for the past 2 years I've got nothing but A's. I thought that the movie portrayed the life and death of a depressed teen very well. They also showed how it affects the people around the person. Many times with problems like these that our society faces, not everything is put out there and students as well as adults don't see the big picture. I think more movies like this could help us.

The film tells the story of a deeply troubled Teen Jimmy who is emotionally and mentally unstable, so much so that he Kills himself with a gun to the head while his family is in Church. the acting by Meredith Baxter and Bruce Davison is wonderful you really feel for them as well as the two younger children. JimmY's family were not aware of his problems which made it even worse for them when he died. The film portrays from the 'survivors' point of view who have to go on living without a precious loved one - The mother (Baxter) deals with her grief by bottling it up inside eventually alienating herself from her husband and younger children, The parents marrage suffers and so do the children as a result.

I believe this movie was shown in American High Schools to show the effects of suicide on the rest of the family

It's not laugh a minute as you can probably tell, but it is a wonderfully acted but sad tale of a family tearing itself apart following the death of a Teenage son.

7/10 (better than average TV Movie)

This is a very hard hitting film, and as a result contains very little in terms of joy and happiness. The majority of the film is extremely depressing and it seems that the director/writer has tried their best to upset the audience and provoke emotion right from the start.

Due to the title of the film, as well as the small summary I read in the newspaper, its quite upsetting from the start, as you know whats coming next. For the first 5-10 minutes your just waiting for Jimmy to kill himself, its obvious he has some psychological problems and possibly suffering from depression, but it seems such a drastic way of dealing with it.

However, depression is such a powerful mind state that I can understand how much it can overwhelm someone so much to cause them to do such a thing. But I think it highlights the fact that even someone that seemingly has everything going for them can get become severely depressed, despite what other people see.

But more significantly I think it highlight's the way teenagers are, such as the feeling of life bearing down on you, as well as the difficulty of making life decisions, which can be very daunting, and that growing up at this age isn't as much fun as you might think. Parents, for example, find difficult to take in, as to them , you are young and have yourwhole life ahead of you because their life has become so straightforward. But for younger people things aren't always so simple.

The film is quite hard to watch, but it does make you aware of how different people come to terms with death, and especially in the extreme case of this film. Its very well acted and draws you in due to its shocking circumstances, but you might find yourself switching it off, as I almost did, because I couldn't bear to see any more sadness. Like I said, there isn't much joy in this film, but definitely worth a watch.

I came across this movie on the lifetime network. I found the performance of Meredith Baxter as the mother dealing with her son's suicide very compelling. This movie showed what suicide does to a family...and the steps you have to take to rebuild your family when it has been so horribly torn apart.

I think overall this was a very good movie and would recommend this tv movie.

I don't have any qualms either with admitting that I cried like a baby during this film. Everything about it was so "real" that it seemed like the family had actually lost their son to that suicide. The part of the denying mother Maggie, and the family's suffering and healing was very genuine also. This was an excellent film on the subject. I've seen the '80s film "Silence of the Heart" about a teenaged boy's suicide, but it doesn't compare with this one. I liked it very much, but I don't think my eyes could handle a second viewing.