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The middle-aged Olivier (Olivier Gourmet) teaches
carpentry at a centre for disadvantaged boys in an
unnamed Belgian city.
Why, though, does he spy on one of his new trainees
Francis (Morgan Marinne) after initially refusing to
take on the teenager? (He even steals a key and lets
himself into the boy's flat.) And why does Olivier's
ex-wife Magali (Isabella Soupart) react so aggressively
when she learns that the youngster has become a pupil of
her former husband?
Those who admired "Rosetta" will be familiar with the
distinctively minimalist aesthetic of Belgian filmmakers
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
In other hands "The Son" might have become a
straightforward revenge thriller. Yet the Dardenne
brothers shy away from melodramatic flourishes:
there's no music on the soundtrack, the performances are
understated, and it's the gestures of the characters
which are psychologically revealing rather than the
dialogue.
The visual style is claustrophobically
disorientating. Alain Marcoen's handheld camera
doggedly follows the stolid figure of the bespectacled
Gourmet, framing his bulky physique within the confined
spaces of the workshop, the car, and the saw-mill.
Gourmet is also repeatedly shot from behind, so that
we see the back of his neck rather than his face. This
adds to the sense of suspense and unknowing, whilst the
jerky cuts suggest his internal agitation.
Like Robert
Bresson, the Dardenne brothers focus
obsessively on physical and material details,
thereby imbuing objects and actions with a spiritual
significance.
Certainly "The Son" lends itself to being interpreted
as a religious parable - hence the title (which the
directors admit could easily have been called "The
Father") - with the choice of Olivier's profession as a
carpenter, the repeated washing of hands, and the
possibility of forgiveness suggested by the moving
conclusion.
In French with English
subtitles.