The Son (2023) - Movie Review

Following on from their last collaboration The Father, a film so good that it nearly topped my Best Of 2021 list, writer/director Florian Zeller and co-writer Christopher Hampton have now continued their dramatising of the effects of mental illness with a new film, also based on one of Zeller’s stageplays. This one, however, hasn’t been getting the same glowing rapport; in fact, opinions on this film have been middling at best. Now, as I’ll get into, I can definitely see where the negativity is coming from and even agree with some of it… but man, when this film hits its stride, it reminds me of just how hard The Father hit on first watching it.

The Father (2021) - Movie Review

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to look at a proper mind-screw of a film. And what’s more, this is about as far from the high-concept sci-fi trappings or Lynchian dream narratives I’ve come to associate such things with. This is as grounded as grounded gets, focusing on one man (Anthony, as played by Anthony Hopkins) as he interacts with his daughter (Olivia Colman), her husband (Rufus Sewell), and… well, beyond that point, it’s hard to tell. Because, for as domestic as this is, it might be one of the most disorienting films I’ve ever watched, let alone reviewed on here. And that's not an insult; that's me praising the fuck out of this movie.