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THE SON Send This Review to a Friend
In "The Son," an attraction at the 2002 New York Film Festival, Belgian writer-directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne ("Rosetta" and "La Promesse") tell a story of a man who takes a troubled youth as his apprentice in a woodworking shop. The youth had been locked up for the killing a child during a robbery, but is now trying to rehabilitate himself.
His new employer has had a tragedy in his life and the smoldering facts lead to an ultimate confrontation. The directorial style is relentless hand-held camera photography, which makes the film exceptionally jangling in looks and tension. I'm not convinced this style is necessary to get the impact needed, but there it is, the choice of the directors, and the result is strong, realistic drama with both personal and social content.
The acting is in keeping with the style. Taut performances with a minimum of histrionics help rivet the viewer and pull one into the tense situation that develops. Olivier Gourmet, who won the best actor award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival playing the role of the teacher, is demanding but understanding, and projects a fatherly figure to his charge. Morgan Marinne as Francis, the apprentice, is sullen but willing to learn. He wants to change his life and make amends for what he has done, but he is also hardened and still needs to come to grips with the enormity of his crime and the effect it has had, and is also desperately in need of someone who cares about him.
You'll put two and two together without much difficulty, but the tension that builds in the drama, accented by the stylistic intensity, is what propels the film toward its ultimate climax marked by compassion and understanding, thereby infusing the film with hope. The setting, including the details of the woodworking and the lumber source, is also effectively handled and a further key toward establishing the utter realism on which the film thrives. A New Yorker Films release.
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