The Son (2002)
(Le fils)
Country: BEL/FR
Technical: col/1.66:1 103m
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Cast: Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne, Isabella Soupart
Synopsis:
A carpenter who helps society by taking on as apprentices boys fresh from prison is shaken by the discovery that a newcomer is the one responsible for his own child's death. Almost in spite of himself he takes an interest in the boy, as if unable to choose between vengeance and comprehension of his act.
Review:
One must accept the hard-to-swallow premise that social services would blunder to the extent that they would not put two and two together from the young offender's file. That aside, this is another telling exercise in over-the-shoulder shadowing of a leading character from the Dardenne brothers, who were inspired by the Jamie Bulger case in the UK to investigate the psychology of a father nose to nose with a murderous youth. In the end it became the victim's father rather than the murderer's, which is probably much sounder dramatic material. Their scenario is impeccable in keeping one guessing right up to the end about the course it will take and its protagonist's increasingly unpredictable behaviour.
(Le fils)
Country: BEL/FR
Technical: col/1.66:1 103m
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Cast: Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne, Isabella Soupart
Synopsis:
A carpenter who helps society by taking on as apprentices boys fresh from prison is shaken by the discovery that a newcomer is the one responsible for his own child's death. Almost in spite of himself he takes an interest in the boy, as if unable to choose between vengeance and comprehension of his act.
Review:
One must accept the hard-to-swallow premise that social services would blunder to the extent that they would not put two and two together from the young offender's file. That aside, this is another telling exercise in over-the-shoulder shadowing of a leading character from the Dardenne brothers, who were inspired by the Jamie Bulger case in the UK to investigate the psychology of a father nose to nose with a murderous youth. In the end it became the victim's father rather than the murderer's, which is probably much sounder dramatic material. Their scenario is impeccable in keeping one guessing right up to the end about the course it will take and its protagonist's increasingly unpredictable behaviour.
(Le fils)
Country: BEL/FR
Technical: col/1.66:1 103m
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Cast: Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne, Isabella Soupart
Synopsis:
A carpenter who helps society by taking on as apprentices boys fresh from prison is shaken by the discovery that a newcomer is the one responsible for his own child's death. Almost in spite of himself he takes an interest in the boy, as if unable to choose between vengeance and comprehension of his act.
Review:
One must accept the hard-to-swallow premise that social services would blunder to the extent that they would not put two and two together from the young offender's file. That aside, this is another telling exercise in over-the-shoulder shadowing of a leading character from the Dardenne brothers, who were inspired by the Jamie Bulger case in the UK to investigate the psychology of a father nose to nose with a murderous youth. In the end it became the victim's father rather than the murderer's, which is probably much sounder dramatic material. Their scenario is impeccable in keeping one guessing right up to the end about the course it will take and its protagonist's increasingly unpredictable behaviour.