The story focuses on four main characters: Peter (Hugh Jackman), ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern), current wife Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and Peter’s son, 17-year-old Nicholas (Zan McGrath). Kate. A young man in his mid-teens begins to act strangely: he skips school, grins at his mother, and says nothing. His behavior can be considered the usual teenage bully, but Kate is alarmed: something is definitely not right, the situation is much more serious, and Nicholas himself is “not like everyone else.”
Peter, who has recently become a second-time father to another woman, seems to have lost sight of the older boy for a while and now intends to look into the situation. But Nicholas “bristles”: moving to his father is reflected in the latter’s relationship with his new wife, sunlight is increasingly leaving the frame, and off-screen lines from composer Hans Zimmer indicate that something is wrong. But we do not know until the end of the story what kind of disaster will happen and with whom.
Zeller’s new painting inherited the traits of “Daddy”. Here, too, a conversation about mental health issues is at the forefront – young actor Zen McGrath is chillingly convincing in the image of a confused and unhappy boy who doesn’t have enough vocabulary and skills to express his pain to adults. And this time, there is a “fatherly” final spin that does not upset the plot, but also hits the stomach of the audience, who is already bloodless.
In Yanagihara’s A Little Life, the main character, Jude, is a person who is in constant pain and everyone tries to help, but in vain. A look into his past puts everything in its place and explains the origin of the trauma. But it also deceives the reader’s expectations, violating the rules of the genre with the usual happy ending: of course not all pain can be suppressed, and of course not all suffering can be suppressed.
Explaining the idea for the novel, the author said, “I wanted to create a story in which the suffering hero could not satisfy his pain. It’s about a hero who doesn’t have to find personal happiness in the name of universal expectations. Not everyone understands – this is the fact of life.
“Son” Zellera focuses on a hero of a similar nature: young Nicholas wanders alone through the dark corridors of history and finds no understanding in them, despite his family’s sincere care and support. Why does it always hurt? I don’t know, it hurts unbearably. How can I help you? I don’t know but please help.
This borderline state of a person who does his best to smile during the day and howls into the pillow at night is also reflected in the visual decisions of Zeller, an undisputed talented and experienced director. For example, for Peter, the line between the past and the present continues with Kate not even letting him come to her on the threshold: behind the door there is already another life with another beloved woman, and these worlds are not needed. intersect
Former spouses also live in different parts of the city. But in addition to the Brooklyn Bridge, they are separated by more fragile structures – the old connecting thread is about to break. Peter’s apartment is the same scourge mirror. All bedrooms have sunlit windows overlooking the city, and the only window in Nicholas’s room is against the blank wall of the house opposite – it cannot be broken or destroyed.
The walls that the heroes build among themselves are also solid. In an attempt to find support, a confused Peter (one of Hugh Jackman’s best career roles) turns to his father, played by Anthony Hopkins (who also played Zeller in the final film).
Hopkins’ namesake hero immediately defends himself after hearing his son’s fears about his own child: In Peter’s story, he hears an accusation towards him. When Anthony left the young Peter alone with his dying mother, and he himself escaped responsibility. Peter has grown, but the wound inside him has not healed: he has sworn not to repeat his own father’s path, but is terrified that this scenario can no longer be reversed. The pain in Nicholas’ eyes due to the divorce of his parents is still on their conscience and nothing is trying to rewind.
Very soon, last year’s drama will be released on loan in Russia “My sun” Charlotte Wells, played by Paul Mescal. He talks about similar experiences between fathers and children. She was forced through the prism of just a child to experience the separation of a parent suffering from depression. In The Son, the same plot is shown through the eyes of adults whose experiences and knowledge are shattered by the experiences of an unfortunate teenager they can’t help. It’s surprising that both films are split into two parallel worlds of the characters: the sunny beaches by the water, where they’re happy, and the gray space of the apartments they want to get lost in.
Although Zeller’s new film was received coldly by the critics and did not receive the attention it deserved from the film awards, “The Son” is a beautiful and meaningful film that talks about something really important. It’s about human fragility, about the different faces of pain, and about the fact that depression isn’t just one.
This was voiced aloud by a flash mob a few years ago in which people diagnosed with depression showed photos of them smiling, hiding great inner pain. Zeller presents the subject in a more aesthetic and poetic way, befitting a playwright. Although exactly the same message lurks behind the great form – exactly when we stop looking at it, we lose our lives when all the light comes out of our rooms and the bridges between us turn to ashes.