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The Son

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United Kingdom, France · 2022
2h 3m
Director Florian Zeller
Starring Hugh Jackman, Zen McGrath, Vanessa Kirby, Laura Dern
Genre Drama

Peter's hectic life with his new partner and baby gets further upended when his ex-wife tells him their teenage son, Nicholas, is deeply troubled. He soon tries to take care of Nicholas the same way he would have wanted his own father to have taken care of him.

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What are critics saying?

60

BBC by

It is a flawed film with a kind heart, but a significantly less impressive progeny of The Father's talky triumph. Like father, like son? Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case.

50

IndieWire by David Ehrlich

The Son is too suffocated by the severity of its writing and the sterility of its environments for the film’s characters to grow beyond the scenarios they represent.

50

The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney

This is Jackman’s movie. He makes Peter’s helplessness intensely moving as he keeps trying, against mounting odds and false breakthroughs, to communicate with a child who remains out of reach. Sadly, that goes for The Son, as much as the son.

80

CineVue by John Bleasdale

The Son, though perhaps not as original and accomplished as The Father, is nevertheless an affecting, empathetic and intelligent drama.

67

The Playlist by Marshall Shaffer

There’s enough humanity from the story and performers alike that cuts to the soul and mostly offsets the uninspired direction. But “The Son” should shine at least a little brighter through the dark material given these participants and their previous triumphs.

80

Variety by Peter Debruge

I watching The Son play out, this family’s tragedy becomes our own, and Zeller’s warning becomes impossible to ignore.

82

TheWrap by Steve Pond

Where “The Father” was subtle and twisty, this drama is more agitated and restless, even melodramatic at times – but that’s a directorial decision that certainly fits the dark and troubling subject that the film explores but doesn’t exploit.

70

Screen Daily by Wendy Ide

It’s undeniably powerful stuff, but a more straightforward piece of storytelling, lacking the slippery, shape-shifting quality of his debut.

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