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I'll address the first thing that I see on the negative reviews: Zen McGrath as Nicholas does not "sell" it. I thought the same thing as I was watching the movie, he never brought me in, he was hard to read, he had a smirk that threw me off, a little smile that was hard to decipher, he seemed sarcastic and out of it, I never felt his pain... but after days of thinking about this film this is what I realized:

Teenage kids are hard to read.

That is the whole point.

I am a parent of a 15 year old boy and this movie shook me to my core. It really did. The parents couldn't read the boy (much like I feel most of the time), they went with what they saw from him and trusted that gut feeling vs what professionals were telling them, they trusted the memories they had as though those represented who the boy was now, they trusted their own desire for things to normalize, they trusted the good moments, they went with the unmistakable desire that "things will be ok". They let those desires take the wheel.

This is Hugh Jackman's best performance to date as a parent desperate for things to be ok as he dealt with his own issues of being a son himself, he wanted to avoid being a monster... not realizing that being a friend wasn't the solution.

X.

Just a bit of research into the works of writer, playwright, director Florian Zeller gave me the information that the he has made a trilogy namely " The mother" ( stage play) a decade back and two movies " The father " and " The son" recently. While I have not seen the play, I found "The father" an excellent movie embellished with the outstanding performance of Sir Anthony Hopkins for which he got the much deserved Oscar award. This movie too is first rate ( but not without its flaws) and has some good acting of Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern with a bonus of a cameo of Anthony Hopkins as the grandfather. Some critics and reviewers have said unkind words about this movie since they found it too bleak and schmaltzy and have also criticized the acting. Not fair really because the subject demanded sentimentality, poignancy and pensiveness. The main characters are the father ( Hugh), the ex wife ( Laura Dern), their 17 year old son ( Zen McGrath) and the present wife ( Venessa Kirby). The son is traumatized by his parent's divorce, he is in acute depression and moves in to live with the father but he is not able to stabilise causing misery to all. He blames his father for divorcing his mom.

Director Florian builds up a charged atmosphere with some heart wrenching scenes as the parents try to get the son to normalise and fit in the family. Those familiar with or knowledgeable on mental health issues may find fault with some points of the narrative specially the apparent inaction by the parents on a few obvious red flags. While most scenes are moving, some may find them cringe worthy and off putting. Actingwise Hugh has put up a good performance showing a father's remorse and guilt. Laura is good as usual and on familiar turf as the distraught mother, a role she has done earlier. Teenager Zen has done well considering his age and experience. I thought he projected the pain, confusion, distress and bitterness very well. There is a beautifully crafted and enacted scene between Hugh and Anthony Hopkins as father and son. The background music enhances the dramatic effect.

When I began this movie, I really had no idea where the story was going to go. I just saw that it was a Hugh Jackman film and wanted to see it. He's always been one of my favorite actors. This story is very personal to me because not only have I too dealt with mental illness for a long time now, but I have also lost several loved ones to suicide. My heart felt like it was being ripped from my chest. Watching this story also made me question how I have dealt with my own children at times. Now, they are all adults but one of my sons deals with depression and anxiety and there were some years during his adolescence that I really worried if he would try to hurt himself. I encourage everyone who watches this film, to hugged your children tight, constantly tell them you love them, and pay attention to them. It is so easy to get involved in life and miss little clues that are right there. But truthfully, just as it is performed in this movie, our love can prevent us from seeing the truth because we don't want to believe it. This was a very touching movie.

Whether or not this is about behavior, due to some degree of mental illness, both parents and step-mother, especially the father, seem completely out of touch with their son's very real and obvious psychiatric and emotional problems to the degree of appearing themselves part of the problem, if not even the trigger of the escalation.

But I am not sure what the movie was telling us? Somewhere between script, direction and editing the whole thing got either diluted to indecisiveness of message, or confusion about the moral we were supposed to walk away with.

Even the actors seemed confused as to how they were supposed to deliver their parts.

It could be argued that real life is like that, but I've had 64 years of it and I would disagree.

The kid had real psychiatric issues and he was even explaining them to his parents, who were competitive go-getters by nature and they seemed to be in total denial of their son's reality.

I think the movie was a good idea badly executed.

The script seemed choppy and not believable, especially in the beginning; I had that feeling where you're acutely aware that they are actors doing a scene. More importantly, the film needed a much, much better actor to play Nicholas, someone who could do the role greater justice especially with Hugh Jackman as the lead. The film did touch on some very important themes including the pain and mourning that can come from divorce, especially for children, and also of course the difficulty of trying to understand and help a loved one with depression. The film felt a little long and drawn out, but had a very emotional and impactful ending that made it worth it.

My 17 year old done committed suicide 3 years ago. The storyline matches my experience almost exactly. Although I'm hard working, not all hard working fathers are from wealthy backgrounds or high powered jobs. Suicide can happen to any family. The exasperation depicted by the parents was spot on. Hugh Jackman's character tried kind dad, understanding dad, hard dad etc. As I did (with help from parental counselling). I saw bad reviews of the sons acting. Totally disagree - he said little, went for long walks, avoided school in exactly the same way my son did and he totally looked the part. The story was very well researched. The doctors line "sometimes love is not enough" said much. The son pleading to leave hospital was him pleading to die. The happiness in the moments before suicide was the happiness of escaping pain. I've seen it. Mental health remains so poorly understood, and it likely always will. But the signs of suicide I've since learnt can follow a pattern. The film captures it all. Top marks for having the courage to make this film and for sure it's not for everyone. Finally, I saw a review saying Jackman's character was failing badly as a father. I've talked now to many people whose family had experienced suicide. And all did their best. I'd stick up for all of them.

Unlike Florian Zeller's brilliant The Father the second part disappoints on many levels, except an emotional, but nevertheless predictable finale it's missing something. Authenticity. The real Magic just doesn't happen. They're not digging deep enough to make us believe in the devastating consequences of a clinical depression.

Difficult to say why it doesn't work despite good main actors, but the first impression is somewhat pale, too conventional and even a bit boring, I am sad to say. Script is lacking the right tension.

My biggest problem is the young actor playing the depressed son. He's simply not convincing in this difficult role. Therefore the film lacks the right balance between the actors.

Five minutes of Anthony Hopkins' presence in a small part are stealing the whole movie. You see immediately what makes the difference in the one and only scene you like to remember.

Very touching movie. Tackle a very important problem, mental health, without excessive use of melodramatic tones. Anyone who hasn't gone through states of mind like the ones Nicholas faces cannot understand and empathize with the disturbances that pass through the human mind. Unfortunately this is one of the enormous problems and misunderstandings in dealing with the relationship with people suffering from these pathologies, because those who are outside of them are unable to rationalize in any way, mainly because there is no real rationality in the behavior that these mental problems bring about . Often, in fact, these symptoms are trivially underestimated and considered as minor problems, easily overcome, but often this is not the case, if not with the help of medicines and a lot of reactivity, the time and strength to want to get out of them, then, often, they make the difference. The film is shot very well, played masterfully by all the actors, and the direction and editing done very well, without excesses. A beautiful film, without a shadow of a doubt, that you already know how it will go on, but that doesn't detract from the force of the impact it has on the viewer and the feelings it arouses. Unconditional love for a beloved son.

I came into the theater with my bar set fairly low due to reviews coming out of the Venice Film Festival. Even with my bar set at it's lowest setting I found this film never reaches its full potential. The Son could have been so great. Hugh Jackman's and Vanessa Kirby's performances were excellent. Sadly I found Zen McGrath's performance to be one note making it very hard to connect to the character. He continually had a crying face but no tears were shed. I found myself laughing in parts that were supposed to be serious and sad. Having experienced mental health issues personally and within my family over the years this film missed the mark. I left the theater feeling sad that this film could have been something great. When I should have been feeling sad for the characters.

I was reminded of a movie from 1985 called TWICE IN A LIFETIME. In that one, Gene Hackman left his wife (Ellen Burstyn) for younger, more vivacious Ann-Margret. He lived happily after and everybody else accepted it. But I didn't believe it for a second. In this one, Hugh Jackman has left Laura Dern for somewhat younger Vanessa Kirby and started a new life with a new baby boy. Dern and their teenage son (Zen McGrath) were supposed to just suck it up and get over it. But they didn't. The son especially is in bad shape. This movie is a heck of a lot more honest than TWICE IN A LIFETIME. It is both painful and sad. When the son starts having serious emotional problems, they work it out so that he goes to live with his father and the new wife. Everyone tries to make it work, but it doesn't it. The story is brilliantly acted by the four principal players and Anthony Hopkins, in a dazzling cameo as Jackman's father. The trouble with this film is that there's really no place it can go. It's an untenable situation and no matter what anyone does, the past cannot be changed. Based on a French play, Le Fils, its stage roots show. It isn't claustrophobic, but it IS really talky. The actors handle the dialogue quite well, but their silent moments are every bit as powerful as their big speeches. Jackman, especially, gives a masterful performance in which he runs the gamut of emotions. His final scene is a real tear-jerker, but the part I liked best was when he danced. This is when filmgoers get a brief glimpse of Jackman the charismatic stage performer. (Please let him do more of this in future films!) This movie is a soap opera-a well-done soap opera, but nonetheless, that IS what it is.

"The Son" is a film that is difficult to see and to evaluate. This film is a continuous web of emotions, due mainly to the great performances of the actors, among all Hugh Jackman shines perhaps even more than usual, Pointing out his weak side even in these difficult films and with a very big message. " The Son" is a nice film, nothing exceptional, many things could be improved as for example the rhythm and the duration of the film, all too prolonged, there are too many scenes too repeated. The first 30 minutes of the film are also absurdly slow and boring. Then the film picks up again and gets into the real problem of Nicholas and his relationship with his family. The film after the initial problem begins to become oppressive making you think the worst for the finale, then an incredible concluding scene that perfectly captures the love of parents towards their children, even after so many sad and dramatic events. One thing I loved was the choice of soundtracks and music, really fabulous, also the photography has wrapped up well connecting to the subject, with really beautiful visuals. Zeller's work in this film was well done, with the indications to the actors well executed while for some things, those already mentioned, he could do really better. In my opinion this film if it had been put on the hands of Scorsese with a cast at the top complex (keeping the impeccable Hugh Jackman) would have come out an incredible masterpiece. But in the end it's still sneaked out a good movie, which I would like to watch again.

. Rating: 7.7/10.

This is one of the most moving and well acted movie I've seen in a long time. It addresses many of the issues that divorced families and their children go through. I have been through this myself many years ago, but have long since recovered. Unfortunately not many families are not so lucky. It is hard raising teenagers, especially in a divorced family where the child has to bounce back between the mother and the father. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat, and I certainly did not expect the ending. I highly recommend to all families, with or without teenage children, divorced or not. I don't see how anyone could rate this movie badly.

I'm officially old enough that I found myself on the stepmothers side. When an almost adult is behaving like such a child, you've just got to get on with life and ignore his whims. I suffer depression myself but I should add a disclaimer that I have a birth defect and disabled. I realized this film makes me have a hard time with empathy. I have actual problems, this kid was behaving like a brat. At some point, his father should have given up and focused on the new family he was neglecting. I kept waiting for this film to give me a reason to care about this kid and it just didn't. Wonderful performances by the adults concerned about their kid, it just wasn't warranted after a while. Add to that the very colossal mistake they made that turns this film into a real tragedy, you've got a mess on your hands. Hugh Hackman deserves the oscar for this film. He really did the best he could with the material as a father fighting for his son really hard, but I'm just not sure the whole picture is worth seeing.

Not all movies are meant to entertain. Some movies are meant to inform or to educate. Some movies are meant to explain how life really is for some people. This movie stands at the pinnacle for trying to help others comprehend mental heath issues that very few people understand. If you haven't lived that life, please shut up and save your artistic criticisms for another movie. I don't care what you think. This movie tried to look at the mental health issue from all sides - parent, child, and other loved ones. It was gut wrenching. It was an extraordinarily realistic depiction of what goes on in a family torn apart by mental health battles. Life becomes a war zone. And during the battle or after the war you begin to reflect and it tears you apart. You ask yourself what just happened. You ask yourself how it happened. And guess what - you have no answers to your questions. Bravo Mr. Zeller.

So I didn't get to see this movie in theatre. And I watched this on Streaming.

All in all "The son" is a really good film with an amazing message that how the present condition of parents influences their children and why parents shouldn't be selfish for their own good without thinking about how their children might feel.

Yes . This movie is no way like a conceptual description of depression like Florian zellers earlier work "the father". I was a little bit dissapointed on that. But hey , not all movies have to be formulaic.

Some parts felt a little bit draggy and I feel that the runtime should have been cut off to like 100 minutes.

All In all "the son" movie is not an easy watch , but must be seen by everyone . Some parts felt like boyhood movie.

I don't know much about depression but I do know how people react to it if someone close to them have it. Florian Zeller may not have presented how accurate acute depression is but his depiction of characters around a person suffering from it is near perfect.

The Son works for me more than The Father because it relies very little on subtext and the story is out there in the open. Hugh Jackman gives his career best performance as a role of a successful person but an absent father. There are criticisms of how the movie does not empathize with Nicholos but I didn't feel it that way. I felt it was rather accurate because of how less most of us understand what depression is actually is. Most of the times, people think "it's just in your head" or "move forward" are actual solutions to depression.

The scene where Hugh Jackman fights with his son was spectacular and shows us how much we are like our dads. Hopkins appears in just one scene but that single scene shows the irony of Jackman's character. The ending was absolutely devastating and very brave. The Son is one of the very films which worked very well for me despite it's not so favourable general public reception.

After seeing the phenomenal The Father (2020) also written and directed to Florian Zeller from his stage play, I had high expectations for this. While I was disappointed, I've also been surprised by the very negative reviews, many from people who have experienced the same kind of trauma depicted here and are of the view that it lack empathy and understanding.

Hugh Jackman certainly gives a great performance as a father trying to understand where he's gone wrong in his parenting and help his deeply disturbed son (played by Zen McGrath) negotiate suicidal ideation. Laura Dern is the mother and Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman) the stepmother. Both are quite good in their roles.

A deeply sad film, it will be difficult to watch for people who have experienced similar trauma, either because it's too close to the bone or else doesn't do enough to really understand the problem. While it lacks the depth and subtlety of The Father, it's a worthwhile watch, though, like the subject matter, there is very little light mixed with the shade.

I attended the premiere at TIFF last night where Hugh Jackman, director Florian Zeller and writer Christopher Hampton were in attendance and introduced the film.

I want to start by saying that Florian Zeller's previous film The Father was my favorite film the year that it was released; that film is an incredibly honest and unique look at someone suffering from Alzheimer's that just may be the best film that has ever tackled the subject. Zeller took a stage play and made it cinematic in a way I've never seen done before for a play-to-film adaptation. It felt so real precisely because of Zeller's own personal experience of his father suffering from Alzheimer's.

Flash-forward to The Son and everything that was done so well in The Father is done so poorly here. One of the first scenes is the film is a conversation between Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern about how their teenage son Nicholas hasn't been going to school for over a month. I knew immediately the film was in trouble because these veteran actors come off as film school actors in a scene that is so awkward and stilted it must have been the one and only take they did. It didn't take me long to realize though that it's not the actors fault, it's the fault of a script containing some of the most unnatural and laughably bad dialogue I've seen in a long time.

This film is phony baloney. That may not be the most articulate way to a describe a film but if you see it, you'll agree it describes it perfectly. The subject of this film is teenage depression. Zeller did not say in his introduction if he or screenwriter Christopher Hampton had personal experience with their own children suffering from depression but I'm going to guess that they haven't. The entire film comes off as if the filmmakers knew absolutely nothing about depression and had never met or had a conversation with someone who was suffering from it. Everything in the film feels fake; fake family, fake dialogue, fake performances. A Hollywood take on an important subject. It's rife with false notes and dishonesty and completely lacks in any depth whatsoever. It feels like someone's clueless vanity project.

Here are the 3 main problems that completely tanked the movie:

1) Bad script. As previously mentioned, horrible unnatural dialogue. Writers who didn't understand their subject and apparently did not do any kind of research. This feels like a Boomer's take on Millennial and Gen Z depression and (surprise!) they don't get it. On top of the groan-inducing ending you can see coming a mile away for this type of film, the message is very muddled as well. The only thing that comes through clear is the theme of generational trauma and mistakes made by fathers are repeated by their sons. The film doesn't really have anything to say about depression other than "It's bad."

2) The film is told from the point of view of the father (Hugh Jackman) rather than from the son. As a result of this creative choice it makes the film about how hard it is to live with and deal with someone suffering from depression rather than how hard it is for someone who has depression to live and deal with it. The Father (2020) was told from the point of view of the person suffering from Alzheimer's so I'm dumbfounded that this film didn't take the same approach.

3) Zen McGrath's performance. I don't normally like to trash young actor's performances but this one is so bad it can't go unmentioned. It might actually be the worst part of this film. Every time he's on screen it's like nails on a chalkboard. It's a one-note performance where every line of dialogue in every scene is delivered exactly the same way without any depth or nuance. The purpose of his character is to generate empathy and compassion from the audience but his performance caused me to feel the complete opposite; I kept praying that something would happen so that I would have to see or hear him anymore.

Avoid this film like the plague. All I can say is that I feel really bad for Hugh Jackman. He's such a nice guy and he always tries so hard. He somehow keeps picking the worst indie projects to do and I hope he manages to land some good ones in the future. He deserves it.