Carpenter Olivier teaches his craft to teenagers and becomes obsessed with a new student, Francis. An ambiguous relationship develops between them until a revelation shows the past that binds them together. A film of profound emotional and moral complexity and a subtle and disquieting study of a man devastated by tragedy.
The directors of The Son, brothers Jeane-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, are together experienced documentarians. This is made explicitly clear in the film\'s style, which af... more >
The directors of The Son, brothers Jeane-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, are together experienced documentarians. This is made explicitly clear in the film\'s style, which affords the camera the rare opportunity in modern cinema to see rather than show. The difference is immense. Renoir, Ozu and Rossellini understood the difference and in more recent years the Dardennes have proved themsleves worthy of inclusion in that illustrious list.
The Dardenne brothers are masters of exploding the minutiae of everyday life to beautiful, poetic proportions. Their films are largely concerned with observing people at work (see also Rosetta and La Promesse), obsessively detailing the intricate structures and routines of the mundane, the everyday. Hitchcock famously described film as life with the boring bits removed; a Dardenne film is life with the boring bits dissected, investigated and ultimately celebrated.
The film is about all the sons - the sons that were, the sons that are and the sons that will be - and all should see it. < less
By Howard Schumann on 2nd June 2003
The Son, the latest film from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, reveals its power only gradually. The story concerns Olivier (Olivier Gourmet), a lonely carpentry teacher ... more >
The Son, the latest film from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, reveals its power only gradually. The story concerns Olivier (Olivier Gourmet), a lonely carpentry teacher at a vocational rehabilitation school in Belgium - a stolid, ordinary looking, and inexpressive man. His entire being seems to be "in permanent disequilibrium," yet he conveys a pent-up energy that seems ready to explode. Olivier has been separated from his wife Magali (Isabella Soupart) since their young son was murdered during a bungled robbery, and the half-hearted way they interact indicate the mourning has not been completed. When Francis (Morgan Marinne), a 16-year old boy just released from reform school, appears at the workshop, Olivier seems strangely obsessed with the youngster, at first rejecting, then taking him on.
Not much happens at the outset. The focus is on the minutiae of the workplace, the techniques of woodworking, how to hold and carry wood and so forth. The claustrophobic camera follows Olivier around the workshop, breathing down his neck, back, and ears, creating a disorienting rhythm of almost unbearable intensity. Olivier follows Francis around with his eyes and our suspicions that there may be something unusual going on is confirmed when Olivier secretly steals the keys to Francis' apartment and lies on his bed.
The Dardennes' austere methods are designed to reveal the human soul with as little mediation as possible. This honest approach works beautifully. The Son challenges us to look at our capacity for forgiveness and, in the process, articulates what it means to be human. Every detail in this wonderful film leads, with a power that seems inevitable, to a startling conclusion of profound beauty.
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