Arts and Faith #8: Le Fils (The Son)

Scott's introductory comments on the Arts and Faith Top 100 Films List
Le Fils (The Son) (2002)
Director: Jean-Pierre And Luc Dardenne.
Arts and Faith ranking: 8

Having just seen this movie, and read Roger Ebert's review, I am reminded why he has ascended to the position of America's favorite film critic.  He demonstrates his love for this film without giving away the central mystery of the movie.  Meanwhile, he expressed the exact same thoughts/expectations that I did at certain pivotal moments in the story.


The Son follows the account of a man (Olivier, played by Olivier Gourmet) who works as a carpentry teacher in a vocational shop.  He initially declines to take on a new student, but then changes his mind.  Speaking on behalf of myself as the audience, I wondered (along with Ebert) what kind of movie this was.  I worried that this was going to be a violent film when there was an emergency with the power saw.  Then I worried that this was a movie about deviant behaviors when Olivier tracks down the young boy in the shower. 


Like Ebert, I decline to reveal more about the plot after this point in the story.  I spoke with my pastor about the plot of The Son, and went ahead to reveal the narrative to him as a platform for sharing some of my theological reflections. Afterwards, I felt remorse, having stolen from him the same wonder that I experienced as the movie slowly unravels to reveal the central mystery of the relationship between Olivier and the student.


The Son is a movie about a lot of things that directly relate to a life of faith:  suffering, discipleship, life and death...The film is a character study of a man who is broken, and appears to make decisions that he himself does not understand.   


And yet, for a film that is minimalist in its dialogue, the audience can occasionally anticipate what the characters will say next. I fear that many of my friends will avoid the film, or dislike it, because of several factors:  its a foreign film (read: subtitles), there is no musical track, no action scenes, and its filmed in documentary style. As Jeffrey Overstreet says, "It is, rather, a story that unfolds without instructions about how to feel or think about what we're seeing, and with no exposition to acquaint us with the characters or the context. In other words, watching this film takes patience and contemplation."  The Son is a film that is worth such patience and contemplation.