Starring: Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Drama directed and co-written by Florian Zeller. The Son (2022) centers on Peter (Hugh Jackman), who has a busy life with his new partner, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and their baby. However, their life is thrown into disarray when his ex-wife, Kate (Laura Dern), turns up with their teenage son, Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who no longer feels he can stay with his mother. Peter tries to care for Nicholas as he wishes his own father had cared for him. But by reaching for the past to correct its mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold onto the Nicholas in the present.
Best Quotes
Kate: We need to talk.
Peter: You can’t just show up here with no warning.
Kate: I tried you, I don’t know how many times. But you don’t pick up your phone.
Peter: What’s the problem?
Kate: It’s Nicholas.
Peter: Has something happened?
Kate: He’s not well. You need to speak to him. I don’t know what to do anymore. He needs you, Peter. You can’t just abandon him.
Peter: I’m not abandoning him. Why do you keep saying these things?
Kate: [referring to Nicholas] He scares me.
Peter: [to Nicholas] Listen, I know you’re having a hard time at the moment, and you’re mad at me, but that’s not a reason for us not to talk to each other.
Nicholas: I want something to change, but I don’t know what.
Nicholas: I’d like to live with you.
Peter: With me?
Nicholas: I feel like my head’s exploding.
Nicholas: Sometimes I just feel that I’m going crazy, Dad.
Peter: What are you talking about?
Nicholas: I’m telling you. I don’t know what’s happening to me.
Peter: Come on. Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll work it out. Trust me.
Peter: He’s my little boy.
'There are some things in life you just don't do.' - Peter (The Son) Share on X
Peter: I feel guilty. I can’t pretend I’m not responsible for the situation. I left, Beth. I left.
Beth: But it’s not your fault if he’s not well. He’s going through a difficult time.
Peter: Anyway, I don’t think I have a choice. I can’t just give up on him.
Beth: Theo didn’t wake you up last night?
Nicholas: No.
Beth: God, you’re so lucky. The same as your dad. Literally nothing wakes him up. That expression “sleeping like a baby” really, it should be “sleeping like a man”.
Beth: Are you unhappy? Why are you unhappy?
Nicholas: I don’t know.
Beth: You don’t know? Does this happen a lot? That you just start crying like this for no reason?
Nicholas: I’m not crying.
Nicholas: [referring to Peter] When he left, my mom took it really hard. She really suffered. She never stopped saying terrible things about him. And the whole time I still worshiped him. It was like I was being chopped in half.
Nicholas: [referring to Peter] When you met him. The fact you knew he was married, and had a son, it didn’t stop you?
Beth: What do you want me to say, Nicholas?
Nicholas: Nothing. You’re right. I don’t know why I’m asking you. It’s stupid.
Beth: No, it’s not stupid.
'It's better to see something in a dark light than to not see it at all.' - Beth (The Son) Share on X
Therapist: You said you don’t feel very close to people your age?
Nicholas: No.
Therapist: Why is that?
Nicholas: I just think they’re stupid. All they care about is having parties and having fun. I’m not interested in any of that.
Kate: I don’t understand where this sadness comes from.
Peter: He’s a teenager, Kate. I mean, ever seen a teenager radiating happiness?
Kate: He’s different from the others.
Peter: What makes you say that? If you ask me, he’s been disappointed in love.
Kate: It’s possible. He is so romantic. Guess where he gets that from.
Kate: I feel like a complete failure.
Peter: What are you talking about? Kate, you’re not a failure in any way.
'Sometimes I feel like I'm not made for this life. And I can't deal with any of it. Even so, I try, every day, with all my strength.' - Nicholas (The Son) Share on X
Kate: [to Peter] When you think about it, there was so much joy in our family back then. I don’t know what happened.
Peter: You’re a wonderful mother. It’s not your fault if he’s going through a rough patch. It’s just, soon everything will go back to normal. Yes, it will. It will. Believe me, Kate. Everything will be fine.
Kate: You think so?
Beth: [as Peter is dancing for them] You see why I instantly fell in love with him?
Nicholas: Who wouldn’t?
Peter: I’m irresistible.
Beth: When he starts, everyone else stops in the room. It’s like he just can’t help drawing attention to himself.
Peter: [after Beth finds a knife hidden under Nicholas’s mattress] I don’t understand it. I mean, he seems to be doing well, doesn’t he? He’s going to school. He’s smiling. He’s better. So why is he doing this?
Beth: Look, don’t worry. He’s probably still a bit fragile. But he knows you’re here for him. I’m sure you’re going to figure it out.
Peter: You think so?
'I'm in pain. All the time. And I'm tired. I'm tired of being in pain.' - Nicholas (The Son) Share on X
Peter: I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Do you understand me?
Nicholas: I don’t hurt myself.
Peter: Look at those scars. That’s what I call hurting yourself!
Nicholas: It’s the opposite.
Nicholas: [referring to hurting himself] It relieves me.
Peter: Relieves you of what? It relieves you of what, Nicholas?
Nicholas: When I’m in pain, it’s a way to channel the pain.
Peter: When you hurt yourself, it’s as if you’re doing it to me.
Nicholas: And when you hurt mom, you were doing it to me.
Anthony: No, the problem these days is, people are scared of everything. Just look around you. Bunch of sniveling cowards. Nobody ever wants to take any kind of a risk anymore.
'In these circumstances, love is not enough. Love will not be enough.' - Doctor Harris (The Son) Share on X
Peter: [referring to Nicholas] He’s come to live with me, and he’s improving, but I think he’s still a little fragile. So I just wouldn’t want to be away when he’s… What?
Anthony: Is that why you came to see me? To tell me what a good dad you are?
Anthony: [to Peter] So, you’re still at it, huh? Really? Blaming me for what happened, what, forty years ago? Still trying to show me what a model dad you are? Wow. So, what do you want? Applause? Bravo.
Anthony: Listen, if it suits you, I can easily take on the role of monster, and bow to your perfection. Yes, you have suffered so much. And your daddy was not nice to you, nor to your momma. Fine. So what? Don’t you think it’s time you started growing up? Because, believe me, it is pathetic. Watching a man of fifty chained to the teenager he once was. If you want my advice, Peter, just f***ing get over it, for God’s sake. Just f***ing get over it. Please.
Beth: [to Nicholas] Little word of advice, if you want to go on having a life, do not have a kid. I’m joking.
Peter: You always see things in such a dark light.
Beth: It’s better to see something in a dark light than to not see it at all!
Beth: [referring to Nicholas] He’s weird. Don’t say that he isn’t. In fact, he’s extremely weird. The look in his eye is disturbing. When are you going to face up to the fact that he’s not right in the head?
Kate: [referring to Peter] He worries about you.
Nicholas: No, he doesn’t give a s**t about me. I mean, about who I really am. He just wants me to succeed like him. The way he has.
Nicholas: I don’t think I’m ever going to measure up.
Kate: What are you talking about? Nicholas, your father wants what’s best for you. He loves you. He believes in you. You’re just two very different people.
Kate: Your dad told me you’d broken up with a girl.
Nicholas: Yes, that’s what I told him. He didn’t understand what was wrong. He needed a rational explanation. You know what he’s like. So I told him what he wanted to hear.
Nicholas: It’s just, I’m not made like other people. Sometimes I feel like I’m not made for this life. And I can’t deal with any of it. Even so, I try, every day, with all my strength. But I just can’t deal with any of it, because I’m in pain. All the time. And I’m tired. I’m tired of being in pain.
Nicholas: [referring to Beth] She wants to turn us against one another.
Peter: No. The problem is you’re f***ing lying to me.
Peter: [to Nicholas] We give you a chance to climb back up, and what do you do? You do the exact same thing. You lie to everybody!
Peter: I don’t know what else to do with you, Nicholas. I’m telling you straight, I just don’t know. I’ve tried to listen to you. I’ve tried to be there for you. I’ve tried to give you strength, and confidence, but obviously none of that’s any use.
Peter: [to Nicholas] You really think you can just live your life like that? Doing whatever the hell you feel like? Getting out of school, never taking any responsibility, refusing to grow up. I mean, what are you going to do with your life, if you’re not doing anything, what’s going to become of you? Naturally, you have no answer.
Nicholas: [to Nicholas] Stop staring at me like that. What’s the idea? Are you trying to intimidate me? That’s not going to work, I can tell you that right away. Not with me.
Nicholas: I can’t deal with it!
Peter: I don’t understand what that means. You can’t deal with what?
Nicholas: Living! I can’t deal with living. And it’s your fault!
Nicholas: [to Peter] You give all these big speeches about life, and work, and then you abandon us as if we were pieces of s**t.
Nicholas: [to Peter] You think you always do the right thing. But right from the beginning you’ve basically been an a**hole!
Peter: Is it because I fell in love with another woman? Is that my crime? How is that any of your business? I have the right to reinvent my life! F***! It’s my life, do you hear me? It is my life!
Peter: [after Nicholas attemps suicide] You know, I wanted so much to help him. And then, in the end, I…
ER Psychiatrist: [referring to Nicholas] What we want is for him to become aware of what he’s done. His tendency at the moment is to minimize it somewhat, which seems to me dangerous. We wouldn’t want him to try it again.
Peter: I hope I can be a better father to Theo.
Beth: Stop it, Peter. You’re a really good father.
Peter: What makes me sad is to have to play a part that I hate with everything in me.
Peter: I keep catching myself saying things. Exactly the same things my father used to say to me when I was young. Things which made me genuinely hate him. And now it’s my turn. And it just, it makes me think I’ve wound up being just like him.
Beth: You’re not here. You’re at work all of the time. And I’m here, and I’m on my own.
Peter: No, you’re not on your own.
Beth: Yes, I am. I’m on my own. And I’m so tired. And I just, there’s Theo, your other son, you know? He needs you as well.
Nicholas: It’s the worst week of my life. It’s hell. You can’t leave me in hell.
Doctor Harris: Nicholas is suffering from acute depression. I think it would be safer for him to stay in the hospital.
Doctor Harris: Suicidal impulses, they’re really difficult to identify, even for the patient. But we can’t pretend that they don’t exist. Second attempts are very common. I think Nicholas is still suffering from a certain disconnect from reality, which is causing him all kind of anxieties, which we can treat.
Nicholas: How can I get better if I’m surrounded by people who are much sicker than I am?
Nicholas: Dad. You know me. I know you do. You always have. But here, they don’t. I’m begging you, Dad. Please don’t abandon me.
Doctor Harris: Your son is not in a state to leave here. All you have to do is sign the papers and he can go home. But it’s my professional opinion, you’d be taking a genuine risk.
Nicholas: What risk?
Doctor Harris: A risk that I would never take with my own son.
Nicholas: It was a cry for help, and I’m sorry about it with all my heart. I just need you to understand my pain. But I’ll never do it again. I swear to you.
Doctor Harris: Don’t feel guilty. This is not about how much you love your son. It’s about protecting him. In these circumstances, love is not enough. Love will not be enough.
Kate: I hope we made the right decision.
Peter: He said it was a cry for help. We have to trust him. Listen, if he doesn’t improve in the next few days, we can always take him back.
Kate: Right.
Peter: But look, I know he’s better off here with us.
Peter: I don’t give a s**t about politics. I just, I want to concentrate on what really counts. And, for me, what really counts is to be here, for Nicholas.
Nicholas: I like seeing you together. It’s been a long time. I mean, since the three of us were together.
Kate: That’s true.
Nicholas: It’s like the good old days.
Nicholas: I just wanted to say, I’m really sorry about everything. And I know you don’t deserve it. I’d like to ask you to forgive me. And I wanted to tell you, that I love you.
Peter: We love you too.
Nicholas: [after Nicholas shoots himself, and Peter fantasizes about him living] It’s my first novel.
Peter: You wrote this?
Nicholas: I didn’t want to tell anyone, out of superstition. But now it actually exists. I wanted you to be the first person to have it.
Peter: “Death Can Wait”. Fantastic.
Peter: [to Nicholas in his fantasy] I’m so proud of you. My big boy. I’m so proud of you.
Peter: [referring to Nicholas] I should have paid more attention to him.
Beth: No, you did the best you possibly could at the time.
Peter: He was so talented. And he was so intelligent. And sensitive. He could have done so many beautiful things with his life. And I should have, I really could have… It’s all my fault.
Beth: I know it’s hard. I know. But life goes on, Peter. Okay? There’s Theo. And you got me. And we need you. Even if it’s hard, even if it hurts, life goes on, Peter.
Peter: No, it doesn’t go on. It can’t go on.
Beth: Yes, it does.
Trailer: