Two years on from his devastating The Father, playwright and director Florian Zeller now brings us The Son. It isn’t a sequel, but it’s probably fair to call it a companion piece, based as it is on another of Zeller’s own plays, once again adapted for the screen by Christopher Hampton. The film stars Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Anthony Hopkins and Vanessa Kirby, and a new trailer has just arrived – watch it below.
As per the official synopsis, The Son centres on Peter (Jackman), whose hectic life with his infant and new partner Beth (Kirby) is upended when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) appears with their son Nicholas (McGrath), who is now a teenager. The young man has been missing from school for months and is troubled, distant, and angry. Peter strives to take care of Nicholas as he would have liked his own father (Hopkins) to have taken care of him, while juggling work, his and Beth’s new son, and the offer of his dream position in Washington. However, by reaching for the past to correct its mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold onto Nicholas in the present
"The Son is a deeply human story which, I believe, connects us all; I hope audiences will be profoundly moved by this family’s journey," Zeller said last year. "Both Hugh and Laura naturally convey great warmth, compassion, and vulnerability, inviting our audience to embrace and feel every moment. The story is set in a vibrant and very much alive New York, an important character. The movie should make us call family and friends to tell them that they are wholly loved and not alone."
William Hope and Hugh Quarshie are also among the cast, and following its run around the international festival circuit, it’ll be out in the US in December. There doesn’t seem to be a UK release date yet, although it did just play at the London Film Festival.