The Son (aka Le Fils)

This intensely focused film from brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (LA PROMESSE, ROSETTA) follows Olivier (Olivier Gourmet), a man in mid-life working as a carpentry instructor in a blue collar French suburb. By day he teaches teenage boys how to work with wood. By night he leads a drab, solitary, routine existence. Olivier is a humble Everyman who could easily go unnoticed. However, the jarring sounds of his wood shop--sawing, hammering, slamming boards together--tell a different story, and set the tone for this simple but clearly dread-filled plotline. The camera violates Olivier with its constantly invasive, examining motion. It is behind his ears, up his nose, under his chin, and peering down the collar of his shirt. And as the film rolls, it becomes increasingly evident that Olivier is nervous, edgy, even seething about something deep inside. He develops a fascination with one of the boys in his class and nervously pursues the boy, offering him friendship and advice with a frightening lack of affection. Through forced spurts of dialogue and unexplained actions, Olivier's connection to the boy is slowly and painfully revealed. THE SON meditates on its own static tension, turning suspense into a gripping plotline all its own. Gourmet's performance is pointed and perfect, and it earned the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002.