The Son

    The Son
    2002

    Synopsis

    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.

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    Cast

    • Olivier GourmetOlivier
    • Morgan MarinneFrancis
    • Isabella SoupartMagali
    • Nassim HassaïniOmar
    • Pierre NisseApprenti Soudeur 1
    • Anne GerardLa Mère de Dany
    • Annette ClossetLa Directrice du Centre
    • Félicien PitsaerSteve

    Recommendations

    • 100

      Chicago Sun-Times

      It is as assured and flawless a telling of sadness and joy as I have ever seen.
    • 100

      The New Republic

      The ability to conceive a compact drama on this huge subject and to embody it as perfectly as they have done, added to what they have already accomplished, puts Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne among the premier film artists of our time.
    • 100

      Christian Science Monitor

      It combines a fresh and exciting style with stunning performances and that rarity in current film, a deeply humanistic story.
    • 90

      The New York Times

      To call The Son a masterpiece would be to insult its modesty. Like the homely, useful boxes Olivier teaches his prodigals to build, it is sturdy, durable and, in its downcast, unobtrusive way, miraculous.
    • 90

      L.A. Weekly

      Makes no attempt to entertain us. Much of this extraordinarily tactful movie, like "Rosetta," is shot in close-up, focusing on the back of Olivier's neck, as if inviting us to see the world as he does.
    • 90

      Chicago Reader

      To my knowledge there's no one anywhere making films with such a sharp sense of contemporary working-class life -- but for the Dardennes it's only the starting point of a spiritual and profoundly ethical odyssey.
    • 88

      Chicago Tribune

      It's a movie imbued with a fierce intimacy -- a tone and style similar to cinema verite documentary -- but it's not a banal realism, even if the characters and settings in contemporary working-class Liege initially seem mundane.
    • 75

      New York Post

      The real star of The Son isn't lead actor Olivier Gourmet. It's the back of his neck, which the camera obsessively focuses on throughout this difficult but rewarding Belgian drama.

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