‘The Son‎’: Why does the heart-wrenching father-son relationship in the film make us deeply empathize?

Fathers and sons are the closest type of relationship in the world, but most fathers and sons have problems communicating. Especially when the child grows into adolescence and the father enters middle age, their conversations often end in arguments.

This is a common dilemma between fathers and sons all over the world, and contradictions and oppositions seem to be a common state of relationship between fathers and sons.

Everyone is used to this kind of relationship, but the film ‘The Son’ has to use the language of the camera to tell a thought-provoking story of father and son.

The Son’ is a sequel to ‘The Father’, but the two films are not related in terms of storyline, they just share the same “family” theme.

Both films are directed by young director Florian Zeller, who pays extra attention to family conflicts, illness, psychological trauma and other life issues, and through the precise distillation of daily life, creates one after another realistic masterpieces that strike at the heart.

Leo Tolstoy wrote in his novel ‘Anna Karenina’: “Happy families are all alike, unhappy families have their own misfortunes.”

‘The Son’ is a film that can bridge the emotional divide for audiences around the world. Focusing on the emotional entanglements of three generations, the film portrays the root of the problems of modern families, the unhealable wounds that parental divorce brings to the hearts of children, and the consequences that adults have to bear for every choice and decision they make.

Such a situation is not limited to the families in the film, but every family in the world can find an emotional common ground in the characters in the film, and thus obtain the same frequency resonance.

Hugh Jackman’s father, Peter, is the central protagonist of the film, and the film unfolds through his perspective as the father of Nicholas (Zen McGrath), a son from his ex-wife who suffers from depression.

Missing his father, Nicholas moves out of his mother’s house to live with him. However, Peter and his new wife Emma (Vanessa Kirby) have just had a baby, and Nicholas’ arrival is destined to bring changes to the family.

Although the film is a reflection of the reality of family life, but in the narrative rhythm and character relationships, everywhere through the saber-rattling and dangerous atmosphere.

For example, the film opens with a peaceful atmosphere, with a happy Emma watching a quiet baby. However, the arrival of Peter’s ex-wife Kate (Laura Dern) immediately shatters the family’s peace. Peter, who has just been immersed in a sweet family atmosphere, is immediately confronted with his oldest son’s mental illness and academic problems.

The audience can sense that Peter’s new family will face a storm, and it is difficult to predict how damaging it will ultimately be.

Peter, as a middle-aged man with a successful career, needs to face the family problems that come with his choice of divorce. There are no easy words in the world of adults, and Peter reorganizes his family for his own happiness.

What he did made Nicholas feel abandoned and that the child’s depression was directly related to the breakdown of his parents’ marriage.

The director does not stop at exploring the relationship between two generations of fathers and sons, he also sets up a contradictory relationship between Peter and Peter’s Father (Anthony Hopkins), further digging into the root of Peter’s irresponsible approach to his family.

The father’s lack of care for Peter at a young age has caused Peter’s lack of family security. Therefore, Peter is the “son” that the whole film wants to analyze, and he is the core of the family problem.

Every man has a “son” identity, they grow from the adoration of their fathers in early childhood, to adolescence when the father’s authority is questioned, and even to middle age because of their career achievements and completely deny the prestige of their fathers.

After watching the movie, I think Peter is the “son who is trapped in his mind”.

Peter did not feel the love of a father when he was young and did not know how to be a competent father as an adult. He perpetuates his own growing pains, leaving his son Nicholas to face a family that is falling apart and holding on to the broken pieces.

This shows that a father’s love and understanding of his children from the beginning to the end is the foundation of a family’s happiness. It is the responsibility of parents to let their children know how to love and be loved from an early age, and it is also the best gift that parents can give to their children.

‘The Son’ is a film of dramatic tension, where each set of characters may harbor conflicting relationships. Such character relationships are set to give Hugh Jackman, Zen McGrath and other leading actors a wide stage to perform.

In addition to the young Zen McGrath is a budding newcomer, other actors in the film are once shining Oscar powerhouse, Hugh Jackman in the film to show a vivid and evocative acting skills, a Peter’s complex state of mind, painful state, selfish psychological performance to the fullest.

In the film, he and Anthony Hopkins at the dinner table in a rivalry scene is amazing, Peter’s tears, the father’s mock contempt, by the two actors played brilliantly, as if in the silence of the thunder, evocative.

Such a performance is worthy of being savored and pondered on the big screen.

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