Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Son


The Son is a 2002 Belgian/French film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The story is of a divorced man whose discovery that his ex-wife is pregnant and is re-marrying motivates him to take the teen-aged murderer of his own son into his carpentry workshop as apprentice. Why does he do this? Even he doesn't understand it. The scene shown above is a pivotal episode between the man and the youth, as they have a bite to eat at a truck stop.

trailer:



Spirituality and Practice says, "The Son is a haunting parable filled with many moments of quiet dignity." Arts & Faith has it on their list of 100 spiritually significant films and says, "Even if the Dardennes were to insist that their characters have no religious affiliation, Olivier’s choices still add up to a passion play. This is as pure a “movie parable” as you’re likely to find." Salon has a mixed review. Slant Magazine calls it "a testament to Christian forgiveness".

Roger Ebert says,
"The Son" is complete, self-contained and final. All the critic can bring to it is his admiration. It needs no insight or explanation. It sees everything and explains all. It is as assured and flawless a telling of sadness and joy as I have ever seen....Walk out of the house today, tonight, and see it, if you are open to simplicity, depth, maturity, silence, in a film that sounds in the echo-chambers of the heart. "The Son" is a great film. If you find you cannot respond to it, that is the degree to which you have room to grow. I am not being arrogant; I grew during this film.
Rotten Tomatoes has a critics score of 88%.

Please come to the weekly T Party over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog and share a beverage-related post with us.

16 comments:

  1. I love that you always find films with eating and drinking scenes. Happy T Day, Hugs, Valerie

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  2. Happy T-Day--- I never heard about this film.

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  3. not aware of this film. I'll see if I can find it on Netflix. Thanks for sharing and happy T day!

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    1. I couldn't find it online and bought the dvd. It looks like Netflix has it right now. Maybe I need to look at Netflix... hmmm...

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  4. Roger Ebert´s word about this film is pretty amazing. I´ll look out for this.

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    1. I looked for it online for ages before I gave up and bought the dvd. Linda's Netflix suggestion is sounding better and better.

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  5. never heard of this film... i will go on the lookout... i love your film-taste beyond the Mainstream.
    thanks for visiting and have a happy t-day!

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  6. I always enjoy that you find such off-the-beaten-path films that somehow tie back to coffee, tea, or some drink. I'm delighted you enjoyed the film. Roger Ebert must have been totally delighted with it.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts and review of The Son with us for T this Tuesday. It looks like a Netflix suggestion, although I don't get Netflix.

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  7. Never heard of this film Divers... Happy happy Tday! Hugs! deb

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  8. Now that sounds like an unusual film--I'll have to see if I can find it. I like when "they" actually put some effort into making a film rather than the same tired plots. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!

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  9. Interesting that so many pivotal and significant moments happen over food and/or beverages... Happy T Day.

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  10. Interesting that so many pivotal and significant moments happen over food and/or beverages... Happy T Day.

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  11. The film sounds very interesting and something I would like to see. Thanks for sharing . Happy T Day!

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  12. This sounded so good. It is now in my Netflix queue. :)
    Happy T-Day! :)

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  13. Looks interesting - might see if I can get to watch it! Sorry to be so late here, my outing yesterday made me tired! Chrisx

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  14. What and interesting plot for a film...not sure I could do that if it had been my son....hmmmmm...... Belated Happy T Day!

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