The Son introduces us to high powered lawyer and politico Peter (Hugh Jackman) who is balancing his busy life with new wife Beth (Vanessa Kirby) and their baby. Peter’s teenage son Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who has been having behavioral problems in school, is soon brought to his home by his ex-wife Kate (Laura Dean) as a last ditch effort to correct Nicholas’ behavior and turn him around.
The Son is a very topical film, resting on the nexus of a host of modern American social issues within this single family. The film explores it all ranging from rotting family dynamics, the rise of mental illnesses and the struggle to treat them, millions of young men feeling listless and lost, and the imbalance of work and life amongst Americans. This may seem like a glut of themes within a single film, but their inclusion feels organic and makes sense within the narrative, allowing the film to serve as a compelling snapshot of current events that generates empathy and investment in its characters and overall story. In watching Peter and Kate’s attempts to help Nicholas the parents’ feelings of helplessness, worry, guilt, and all of the spectrum of emotions one would expect them to feel when trying to save their son but not knowing how to do so. The Son has been viewed this Oscar season largely as a starring, awards season vehicle for Hugh Jackman and the film’s lead does not disappoint in the performance he offers. The internal struggle of a father trying to heal his son while struggling with his own paternal demons is nuanced and emotional, drawing both pity and contempt for how Peter handles the situation. The grey area in which he sits is the perfect encapsulation of the real life issue of generational trauma and parenting a child who needs a kind of help that his parents can’t provide him.
McGrath does well in capturing the confusion and pain of Nicholas through his performance and the up and down nature of dealing with an imbalance in mental health. As the audience interacts and observes him, the dread felt by his parents regarding Nicholas’ every move, every mood swing, results in you being just as on edge as they are. It results in an empathetic viewing experience that brings you into the film as you wonder, alongside Peter and Kate, just how to help Nicholas improve. The depiction of this struggle is sure to mirror many viewers’ personal experiences in helping mentally ill loved ones and make The Son a tough watch, but that can create a connection through its relatability.
As the title suggests, the biggest theme surrounding The Son is the parent-child relationship, namely how parental narcissism and frayed relationships become a sort of generational curse that are passed down, in this case, from father to son. Peter’s relationship with his own father Anthony, portrayed in an emotionally fraught cameo by Anthony Hopkins, is strained due to his father’s commitment to his career at the expense of building a strong connection with Peter as a young boy, something that the son has never gotten over. Despite his inability to recognize it, this pattern has repeated itself in his relationship with Nicholas, despite his surface level attempts to connect with his son and help him through his depression. While Peter is not nearly as narcissistic as his father, his prioritization of his career and his own happiness over his son throughout his lifetime undeniably played a part in Nicholas’ struggles as his own father’s had done to him. The way that The Son displays how this problem builds upon itself and its wide-reaching effects only buoys its point and underlying themes. This film can be a tough watch for people who can’t handle emotion well, but the issues it explores are ones that must be examined and the film does well in its layered, nuanced approach to them. Hugh Jackman gives once of his best performances and meets the emotion of the story with acting to match it.
Image: Sony Pictures Classics
