The Son (2002)

Review:

Jean Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's film "The Son" resonates louder in my heart and percolates in my mind the more I reflect upon it. It is at once a film that is completely mundane and deeply spiritual. I can't help but wish more people would see it or have the patience to sit through it. "The Son" does not make any direct assertions about its characters or their motivations. It trusts its audience to understand the underlying complexity of its story and realize when expectations have been derailed.

"The Son" is like a parable - told with simplicity but conceived with great meaning. It is the story of Olivier (Olivier Gourmet), a carpenter who teaches at a vocational school for boys. Olivier is a sedate man. You can sense his deep longing and isolation. But it is clear Olivier is a master carpenter and teaches it well, caring deeply for the craft and for his students.

When Francis (Morgan Marinne), a troubled teenage youth recently released from a reformatory institution, is brought to Olivier to become an apprentice Olivier explains he already has too many apprentices. He suggests the boy be taken to the welding shop. Despite this rejection, it is clear from Olivier’s actions after his first meeting with Francis that he has a keen interest in the boy.

Later that day Olivier’s ex wife (Isabella Soupart) comes to tell Olivier she is getting remarried. Their relationship seems uncomplicated but restrained; mature but sad. We don’t ever really learn the specifics of their divorce, but we do learn the catalyst of their separation, which I will not comment upon in this review. Soon after learning of his wife’s new marriage, Olivier changes his mind and decides to take on Francis after all.

That is the setup for the film. More, I will not elucidate upon. I will leave it for you to discover what’s going on with Olivier. But I will say what I think this film is about. It’s about forgiveness - deep forgiveness. Most films treat forgiveness as a mechanism for closure when in reality it’s hardly ever that. Forgiveness is not a simple action with definite parameters; it is a long, illogical process, more often encapsulated by an unconscious decision than a dramatic reconciliation.

I loved “The Son” because it explores the full breadth of forgiveness. It’s the most complicated film about forgiveness I have seen since Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988) and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Olivier being a carpenter wasn’t an accident.


Rating:

On a scale of one to ‘Casablanca’ this film is a “Hiroshima Mon Amour” (1959)

Rationalization:

To create simple art that maintains great depth is a feat few artists can achieve. Many great movies have a tendency towards verbose scripts and elaborate camera work. There is nothing wrong with this, in fact I would like if if there were more movies that have the voluptuous quality of some Woody Allen or Kubrick films, but sometimes a film like “The Son” just hits you so hard that you wonder why anything as elaborate as a crane shot or CGI are necessary at all in movies.