The Son

Original title: Le fils

2002
1h 43m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A joinery instructor at a rehab center refuses to take a new teen as his apprentice, but then begins to follow the boy through the hallways and streets.A joinery instructor at a rehab center refuses to take a new teen as his apprentice, but then begins to follow the boy through the hallways and streets.A joinery instructor at a rehab center refuses to take a new teen as his apprentice, but then begins to follow the boy through the hallways and streets.

Directors
- Jean-Pierre Dardenne
- Luc Dardenne
Writers
- Jean-Pierre Dardenne
- Luc Dardenne
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

10K

YOUR RATING

Directors
- Jean-Pierre Dardenne
- Luc Dardenne
Writers
- Jean-Pierre Dardenne
- Luc Dardenne
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 11 wins & 12 nominations

Trivia
Partly inspired by the Jamie Bulger murder, a case that shocked England in 1993 when a 2-year-old toddler was murdered by two 10-year-old boys.

Quotes
Olivier: The boy that you killed was my son.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Best Films of 2003 (2004)

User reviews78

Review

Featured review

10/10

Do you still want to be a carpenter?

The directors of 'The Son', brothers Jeane-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, are together experienced documentarians. This is made explicitly clear in the film's style, which affords the camera the rare opportunity in modern cinema to see rather than show. The difference is immense. Renoir, Ozu and Rossellini understood the difference, and now the Dardennes can be added to that illustrious list.

The Dardenne brothers are masters of exploding the minutiae of everyday life to beautiful, poetic proportions. Their films are largely concerned with observing people at work (see also Rosetta and La Promesse), obsessively detailing the intricate structures and routines of the mundane, the everyday. Hitchcock famously described film as life with the boring bits removed; a Dardenne film is life with the boring bits dissected, investigated and ultimately celebrated.

The film is about all the sons - the sons that were, the sons that are and the sons that will be - and all should see it.