Film Review: THE SON (2022): Hugh Jackman Delivers the Performance of His Career in a Heart-wrenching Drama

The Son Review

The Son (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Florian Zeller, written by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller and starring Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, William Hope, Hugh Quarshie, Julia Westcott-Hutton, Akie Kotabe, Kenny-Lee Mbanefo, Isaura Barbe-Brown, Reza Diako, Joakim Skarli, Rachel Handshaw, George Potts, Danielle Lewis and Rene Costa.

Florian Zeller’s new film, The Son, is absolutely heartbreaking. Hugh Jackman in the film’s central role gives the strongest performance of his distinguished career in the picture as a dad named Peter who tries everything he can to give his teenage son Nicholas (the very good Zen McGrath) a good life. Jackman is on screen for virtually the entire movie and his work in The Son is nothing short of Oscar-worthy. Jackman pours his heart into the character he plays here and is relatable even when his character does things that he probably shouldn’t.

Peter divorced Nicholas’ mom, Kate (Laura Dern) and Peter now lives with his new lover, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), with whom he has a new child. Peter is a workaholic who doesn’t pay much attention to Nicholas who lives with his mother but when Nicholas chooses to try to live with Peter instead, the movie unveils many layers of complexity regarding the choices a parent must make for the good of his or her child.

Nicholas has a certain level of disappointment regarding his father’s choice to divorce Kate. When Nicholas moves in with Peter and Beth, things don’t get off to the best start but Peter, a high-profile lawyer with political aspirations, loves his son. Unfortunately, his son suffers from depression, the severity of which doesn’t immediately reveal itself. Nicholas isn’t going to school like he says he is and when Peter discovers just how long his son has been lying to him, it’s an absolutely heart-wrenching scene in a film full of intense and authentic moments.

Anthony Hopkins plays Peter’s dad. In the movie, Peter visits his father and there is only one scene between them. It is a very sad sequence but also rings very true to life. Peter’s dad thinks Peter is trying to prove himself to be a better father than he was and doesn’t understand Peter. Although Peter works all the time and seeks financial success, he also yearns to be a good, caring father. Hopkins and Jackman are two masters of their craft and their scene together is disturbing and powerful to watch. Both actors are simply excellent here.

In the interim, Beth discovers a knife under Nicholas’ bed which scares both of them. When Beth and Peter are going to go out and need a babysitter to watch their young baby, Nicholas volunteers to help. But, how can Nicholas be trusted given his recent behavior? Vanessa Kirby is one of our strongest actresses and doesn’t disappoint in her role as she learns to accept Nicholas into her life but she also must remind Peter that he has another child as well. Beth is a well-conceived character who is not written off as being bad for coming between Nicholas’ parents. Beth is only human and the performance by Kirby is terrific. Beth challenges Peter not to work as much and to look at the people in front of him who need him who he ends up unfairly neglecting.

Laura Dern is also very strong in her role in the movie. There is a scene between Peter and Kate in which Kate reveals how much she truly loved Peter in the beginning stages of their relationship. This scene will tear your heart out thanks to its emotional and nuanced acting. Dern’s work stands out significantly as the mom Nicholas loves and Nicholas seems to wish his mother would reunite with Peter but what is the right answer in this very confusing situation? Unfortunately, there isn’t one.

The Son is an amazing, complex portrait of mental illness. Zeller rarely, if ever, hits a false note. When Nicholas is hospitalized for depression, a doctor (Hugh Quarshie) suggests that his parents not take their son home with them. This doctor knows that the young man needs more professional attention and Quarshie is very strong in the movie giving a very realistic performance in his brief scene in the movie. Mental illness is not an easy subject to approach and Zeller’s film takes it on fearlessly with some of the most authentic scenes on the topic I’ve ever seen in a movie.

Jackman commands the audience’s respect and attention every single moment he appears on screen. The flashbacks to the days when Nicholas was a young boy interacting with Peter are quite touching and help create the ideals that Peter hopes for in his relationship with his son. Jackman is believable and deeply affecting. In the role he plays in this picture, he maintains the integrity of Peter all the way until the last scene of the picture. Jackman has never been better in any of his previous film work. This is the film performance the actor was born to play. He even has a moment where he dances with his family swaying from left to right and this scene is so uplifting and is one of the few lighter parts of the movie. It’s absolutely perfect.

Zeller’s movie concludes with a couple of scenes that cut to the bone and make a whopping emotional impact. They will make audience members cry and help viewers truly understand the tragic possibilities of not dealing appropriately with mental illness. As the aforementioned doctor states, “Love is not enough.” Jackman and McGrath are absolutely outstanding in their last on-screen moments and create the moving emotions that great movies are made out of.

The Son is a movie that takes the viewer places that are hard to go emotionally but the film is never afraid of exploring the depths of the topics it displays to the audience. You’ll never look at depression and mental illness the same way again after seeing this movie. The whole cast has come together to make one of the most important pictures of the year. If there’s any justice in the world, Hugh Jackman will get an Oscar nomination for his heartfelt work in the amazing and powerful film, The Son.

Rating: 9.5/10

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