Review Roundup: Hugh Jackman Stars in THE SON Film Adaption

The new film adaption of Florian Zeller's THE SON starring Hugh Jackman has made its debut at the Venice Film Festival.

The film is directed by Academy Award winner Florian Zeller, who adapted the script from his acclaimed stage play alongside Academy Award winner Christopher Hampton. It is a followup to Zeller's The Father, which was released in 2020, and follows a different set of characters.

The Son also stars Academy Award winner Laura Dern, Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins, and Academy Award nominee Vanessa Kirby and will be released on November 11, 2022 in New York and Los Angeles before expanding to additional markets.

Read what the critics are saying below!

Peter Debrudge, Variety: "Instead of feeling loose and lived in, Zeller's adaptation of his own play has a slightly heightened quality, not to be confused with "theatrical": The sets feel slightly under-decorated, as if the characters were living in an Ikea showroom. The sound design has been dialed down, such that SIRENS and street noise (a New York near-constant) barely register. The dialogue, adapted into English with Christopher Hampton's help, suggests what people might say in such a situation."

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter: "This is Jackman's movie. He makes Peter's helplessness intensely moving as he keeps trying, against mounting odds and false breakthroughs, to communicate with a child who remains out of reach. Sadly, that goes for The Son, as much as the son."

Pete Hammond, Deadline: "Jackman went after this role when he heard a film version was in development, and for good reason: It is the most impressive dramatic performance of his career, one he jumps into with no movie star filter."

Steph Green, BBC: "That isn't to say that THE SON is an unmitigated disaster, or even anything that feels like showy Oscar bait: it is a flawed film with a kind heart, but a significantly less impressive progeny of The Father's talky triumph. Like father, like son? Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case."

Robbie Collin, Telegraph: "The film contains deeply felt work by Hugh Jackman and Vanessa Kirby, but it's an otherwise drab, simplistic, mechanical thing that wears its workings right on the surface"

Steve Pond, The Wrap: "'The Father' had a heartbreaking elegance in the way it got inside the main character's head, but "The Son" is both colder and hotter than that film, following the mood swings of a teen in pain. It finds Zeller (with the help of his remarkable cast) going bigger, bolder and perhaps less focused, but remaining sensitive and attuned to the intricacies of putting mental illness onscreen."

Wendy Ide, Screen Daily: "The second film from Florian Zeller, is, like The Father, based on one of his own stage plays. It's undeniably powerful stuff, but a more straightforward piece of storytelling, lacking the slippery, shape-shifting quality of his debut."

Jo-Ann Titmarsh, Evening Standard: "[Hugh] Jackman and [Laura] Dern excel as the concerned parents. Dern is so great at expressing heaps with the slightest moue or glance. Jackman has the meatier role and has more to do: he goes from happy new dad, to frustrated father to embittered son and then to horror as he recognises so much of his father in himself."

Watch the teaser trailer for the upcoming film here:

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