The Son (2002 film)

2002 film

The Son

French theatrical release poster

Directed by| Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Luc Dardenne
Written by| Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Luc Dardenne
Produced by| Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Luc Dardenne
Denis Freyd
Starring| Olivier Gourmet
Morgan Marinne
Isabella Soupart
Cinematography| Alain Marcoen
Edited by| Marie-Hélène Dozo

Production
companies

Archipel 35
Les Films du Fleuve
RTBF

Distributed by| Diaphana Films (France)

Release dates

* 9 October 2002 (2002-10-09) (Belgium)
* 23 October 2002 (2002-10-23) (France)

Running time

| 104 minutes[1]
Countries| Belgium
France
Language| French
Box office| $70,262[2]

The Son (French: Le Fils) is a 2002 mystery film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

## Plot

[edit]

Olivier, a carpenter by trade who teaches at a trades training center, knowingly takes on Francis Thorion, the murderer of his son, as an apprentice. Francis is unaware of his connection with Olivier from five years ago. Olivier, tormented by the loss of his son and his separation from his wife, develops a slight obsession with Francis. He stalks him home, steals his keys, and explores his apartment, whilst slowly discovering more about the boy. Francis looks up to Olivier, seeing him as a surrogate role-model. With this on his mind, Olivier is ultimately torn between hatred for the murderer of his son and the moral ambiguity of accepting this child from a broken home and disillusioned past.

## Cast

[edit]

* Olivier Gourmet as Olivier
* Morgan Marinne as Francis Thorion
* Isabella Soupart as Magali
* Nassim Hassaïni as Omar
* Kevin Leroy as Raoul
* Félicien Pitsaer as Steve
* Rémy Renaud as Philippo
* Annette Closset as Training center director
* Fabian Marnette as Rino
* Jimmy Deloof as Dany
* Anne Gerard as Dany's mother

## Interpretation

[edit]

Luc Dardenne wrote a comment about The Son in his book Au dos de nos images. Magali, the ex-wife of Olivier is very astonished that Olivier took Francis, the murderer of their son, into his workshop. She says to Olivier, "Nobody would do that." He answers, "I know." And she replies, "Then, why do you do it?" He answers, "I don't know." And Luc Dardenne wrote "We don't know either."[3]

## Critical response

[edit]

The Son received mostly positive reviews from film critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it an 88% approval rating, based on 57 reviews, with an average score of 7.7/10. The site's consensus reads, "Austere, finely crafted, and compelling.".[4] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 86, based on 18 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[5]

## Awards and nominations

[edit]

Olivier Gourmet received the Best Actor Award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for his portrayal of the tormented Olivier.[6]

The film received the André Cavens Award for Best Film by the Belgian Film Critics Association (UCC). Roger Ebert ranked the film No. 7 on his list of the best films of the decade (2000–2009).[7] Paste Magazine named it one of the 50 Best Movies of the Decade (2000–2009), ranking it at No. 8.[8]

## See also

[edit]

* List of Belgian submissions for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "LES FILS - THE SON (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. 22 January 2003. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
2. ^ The Son at Box Office Mojo
3. ^ French: Il y a quelque chose d'impossible dans ce que fait Olivier. Magali a sans doute raison de lui dire: 'Pourquoi tu le fais alors?', et il a sans doute raison de lui répondre: 'Je ne sais pas.' Nous non-plus, on ne sait pas. Quoted from Au dos de nos images, Seuil, Paris, 2005 (first published) and 2008 (pocket book), p.127. ISBN 978-2-7578-0891-7
4. ^ "The Son (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes.
5. ^ "The Son". Metacritic.
6. ^ "Festival de Cannes: The Son". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
7. ^ "The best films of the decade". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010.
8. ^ "The 50 Best Movies of the Decade (2000–2009)". Paste Magazine. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2011.

## External links

[edit]

* The Son at IMDb
* The Son at AllMovie
* The Son at Box Office Mojo

* v
* t
* e

Dardenne brothers

* Awards and nominations

Feature films|

* The Promise (1996)
* Rosetta (1999)
* The Son (2002)
* L'Enfant (2005)
* Lorna's Silence (2008)
* The Kid with a Bike (2011)
* Two Days, One Night (2014)
* The Unknown Girl (2016)
* Young Ahmed (2019)
* Tori and Lokita (2022)

Related|

Les Films du Fleuve

Awards for The Son

* v
* t
* e

Belgian Film Critics Association Award for Best Film

* The Son of Amir Is Dead (1976)
* In the Name of the Führer (1977)
* Les Rendez-vous d'Anna (1978)
* Woman Between Wolf and Dog (1979)
* My Name Is Anna Magnani (1980)
* Le Grand Paysage d'Alexis Droeven (1981)
* Le Lit (1982)
* Brussels by Night (1983)
* Permeke (1985)
* The van Paemel Family (1986)
* Wedding in Galilee (1987)
* The Abyss (1988)
* Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1989)
* Monsieur (1990)
* Toto the Hero (1991)
* Man Bites Dog (1992)
* Just Friends (1993)
* The Sexual Life of the Belgians (1994)
* Manneken Pis (1995)
* La Promesse (1996)
* Gabriel's Dream (1997)
* Rosie (1998)
* Rosetta (1999)
* Lijmen/Het Been (2000)
* No Man's Land (2001)
* The Son (2002)
* On the Run / An Amazing Couple / After Life (2003)
* Gilles' Wife (2004)
* L'Enfant (2005)
* The Only One (2006)
* Private Property (2007)
* Eldorado (2008)
* Unspoken (2009)
* Mr. Nobody (2010)
* Bullhead (2011)
* Our Children (2012)
* Kid (2013)
* Two Days, One Night (2014)
* The Brand New Testament (2015)
* After Love (2016)
* Home (2017)
* Girl (2018)
* Our Mothers (2019)
* Adoration (2020)
* Playground (2021)
* Close (2022)
* Love According to Dalva (2023)

* v
* t
* e

Lumières Award for Best French-Language Film

* The Son (2003)
* The Barbarian Invasions (2004)
* Tomorrow We Move (2005)
* L'Enfant (2006)
* Bamako (2007)
* Délice Paloma (2008)
* Lorna's Silence (2009)
* I Killed My Mother (2010)
* A Screaming Man (2011)
* Incendies (2012)
* The Pirogue (2013)
* Horses of God (2014)
* Two Days, One Night (2015)
* Much Loved (2016)
* Hedi (2017)
* Insyriated (2018)
* Girl (2019)

* v
* t
* e

San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Language Film

* And Your Mother Too (2002)
* The Son (2003)
* Maria Full of Grace (2004)
* Hidden (2005)
* Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
* Let the Right One In (2008)
* You, the Living (2009)
* Mother (2010)
* Certified Copy (2011)
* Amour (2012)
* Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
* Ida (2014)
* Son of Saul (2015)
* The Handmaiden (2016)
* BPM (Beats per Minute) (2017)
* Roma (2018)
* Parasite (2019)
* Another Round (2020)
* Drive My Car (2021)
* Decision to Leave (2022)
* The Zone of Interest (2023)

* v
* t
* e

Belgian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

* The Departure (1967)
* Palaver (1969)
* Peace in the Fields (1970)
* The Lonely Killers (1972)
* The Conscript (1974)
* High Street (1976)
* Rubens (1977)
* Woman Between Wolf and Dog (1979)
* Le Grand Paysage d'Alexis Droeven (1981)
* Minuet (1982)
* Dust (1985)
* Jumping (1986)
* The Cruel Embrace (1987)
* The Music Teacher (1988)
* The Sacrament (1989)
* Toto the Hero (1991)
* Daens (1992)
* Just Friends (1993)
* Farinelli (1994)
* Manneken Pis (1995)
* The Eighth Day (1996)
* Ma vie en rose (1997)
* Rosie (1998)
* Rosetta (1999)
* Everybody's Famous! (2000)
* Pauline and Paulette (2001)
* The Son (2002)
* Sea of Silence (2003)
* The Alzheimer Case (2004)
* L'Enfant (2005)
* Someone Else's Happiness (2006)
* Ben X (2007)
* Eldorado (2008)
* The Misfortunates (2009)
* Illegal (2010)
* Bullhead (2011)
* Our Children (2012)
* The Broken Circle Breakdown (2013)
* Two Days, One Night (2014)
* The Brand New Testament (2015)
* The Ardennes (2016)
* Racer and the Jailbird (2017)
* Girl (2018)
* Our Mothers (2019)
* Working Girls (2020)
* Playground (2021)
* Close (2022)
* Omen (2023)
* Julie Keeps Quiet (2024)

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