THE SON *

 Florian Zeller wrote three separate plays, "The Father", "The Son" and "The Mother", though the plays are not directly connected. In 2020 he made his directorial debut with "The Father" and showed great skill in transforming a very theatrical piece into something wholly cinematic. Now he has given us the film version of "The Son". The subject is mental illness and how families deal with it and cinema has been dealing with these kind of issues almost since the beginning and family dramas like this have been grist to the mill for American cinema for decades, usually treating the subject sensationally. Zeller, however, treats the subject with a clinical coolness and it's a failing the film never recovers from.

Here a seventeen year old boy, Nicholas, (beautifully played by newcomer Zen McGrath), finds difficulty in just living. His parents, (Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern), are separated. Jackman now lives with his partner Vanessa Kirby and has a new baby son and Nicholas, who has been living with his mother, now wants to move in with them. He does but his situation doesn't improve. Nicholas is seriously ill and needs treatment, not just a change of scene.

In many ways this is an actor's piece and all the performances, including a cameo from Anthony Hopkins, are first-rate but it's the cool detachment Zeller brings to the material that keeps us at a distance, never allowing us to get emotionally involved. This is a deeply serious subject and Zeller treats it with an appropriate seriousness and yet there were times when I craved for the psychodramas of the past. Like Jackman I, too, felt shut out from Nicholas' pain and the last thing a film like this should do is alienate its audience; sometimes good intentions just aren't enough.