Juan Carlos Garcia/ Reform Agency
Sunday, February 05, 2023 | 11:21
Toronto Canada.- Suddenly, Peter (Hugh Jackman) discovers that his son Nicholas (Zen McGrath) is living in a deep depression, but he will have a hard time helping him and at the same time understanding the cold relationship with his own father (Anthony Hopkins).
In The Son (The Son), a film by Florian Zeller that is already in theaters, Peter moves from the joy of a happy relationship with his new partner, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), to the search for solutions to the drama his son is experiencing , who can’t get over her parents’ divorce (Laura Dern plays the mother).
“I think there is a very deep psychological and social approach, but without exaggeration. I like the analysis of the mind and the human condition in vulnerable situations.
“I like to force my spectator, my reader, the person who sits down to appreciate one of my stories, to debate about ethics, logic, morality, circumstance, effect, we are a whole, nobody is of one piece,” he explained in interview Zeller, director and author of the play on which the story is based.
The Son is one of the components of his trilogy, which he integrates with The Mother, not yet made into a movie, and The Father, the acclaimed film released in 2020 starring Olivia Colman and Hopkins, who received his third Oscar for Best Actor .
It should be mentioned that all three were conceived for theater, with El Padre being the most acclaimed in New York, and El Hijo in Paris.
For both Zeller and Jackman, the reasoning taken from this feature film brings family conflicts, discrepancies between blood relatives and lack of communication closer.
“There are many readings in this argument, which seduced me from the beginning because Florian did something very elementary: speak and treat mental health from a point of view very close to the family and the very strange way in which we see it.
“Sometimes it seems far away because we don’t know how to approach it, you’d rather talk about leg pain than a mental imbalance that needs to be treated,” Jackman described.
Although this piece was neither as successful nor as outstanding as its predecessor, the protagonist was nominated for the Golden Globe as Best Drama Actor; but he did not get an Oscar nomination.
In the narrative, Peter is newly married to his second wife, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and they have just welcomed their first child together. The teenager comes to change their lives and his infidelity with his current wife comes to light, and all the sentimental nonsense of the reluctant student. Diagnosis? severe depression.
“I feel that the soul of the story is in the interpretation of Zen, he is a wonderful young man and it seems to me that he gave us a lot, that he encouraged us to be the best. He was a great discovery in the audition area and he forced us all to give a terrific performance,” Jackman said.
With all the best intentions, and in agreement with his wife, Peter takes his eldest son to a specialized clinic for treatment, but guilt and hope will make him make a decision that will unleash the unexpected ending.
