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Son's Room, The
Miramax Films


9.2

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 5 votes
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FILM:

Quiet Chaos

MPAA RATING: R for language and some sexuality

Starring Nanni Moretti, Laura Morante, Jasmine Trinca, Giuseppe Sanfelice, and Silvio Orlando

An Italian psychoanalyst and his family must overcome their grief following the death of their son in a freak diving accident that changes their lives forever.

GENRE(S):	Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Nanni Moretti Linda Ferri Heidrun Schleef
DIRECTED BY:	Nanni Moretti
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 8, 2002 Video: October 8, 2002 Theatrical: January 25, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	99 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France / Italy
LANGUAGE(S):	Italian (with English subtitles)

Original foreign title "La Stanza del Figlio"; Winner, Best Picture, 2001 Cannes Film Festival; Best Film, Best Actress (Morante), Best Music, 2001 David di Donatello Awards

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

We feel it, in our hearts. And therein lies the great power of this small, wise film.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Moretti gives us something different but very important. He shows us how life goes on.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

It takes skill these days, if not nerve, to put a vital, happy nuclear family on screen and to invite us to share in every quiet tremor, every gentle jostle and smile of their steady, deep-flowing contentment.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Surprisingly powerful and universal: the search for meaning and small blessings in the face of life's utter randomness.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

In the end, it's that reserve that makes it work. Keeping his distance, the director lets viewers see in full the moments in which grief turns the world into a narrow, never-ending tunnel.

Film Threat Ben Slater

Moretti's actual direction is always simple, perhaps plain, but this no-frills approach allows him to gently craft a story full of poignant episodes, building toward a melancholy but genuinely uplifting conclusion.

Newsweek David Ansen

There’s not a whisper of melodrama or sentimentality in the way Moretti tells his tale, guiding us through the stages of grief with calm, devastating lucidity.

New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo

Wise and surprisingly witty, the film is a minor masterpiece and could serve as a fitting companion piece to America's "In the Bedroom," another superb film about the torments of bereavement.

Chicago Reader Meredith Brody

With tender skill, Moretti illuminates Samuel Beckett's phrase "I can't go on -- I'll go on."

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Not all movies can be stark, difficult and obscure. Sometimes in a quite ordinary way a director can reach out and touch us.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Always perceptive and curiously light in tone if not in content -- such a remarkably delicate look at an absolutely devastating subject.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This is a superior motion picture -- an example of the pleasant surprise that can result when a skilled director departs from his usual style. By daring to be honest and unsparing, The Son's Room is meaningful.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

A deceivingly simple film, one that grows in power in retrospect, as the cumulative impact of so many quiet moments makes itself felt.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Isn't bold or daring, but it is delicately distinctive; it's the kind of picture that stirs subterranean rumbles of empathy in us rather than flashy, gushing waves.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The movie's rejection of even a tinge of melodrama lends it a special integrity.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The film's closing may be less than conclusive, yet The Son's Room must be admired, at least, for its unsentimentality.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

The Son's Room refers to every room this family will inhabit for a long time -- he's an unseen, ubiquitous presence -- but they may learn to lead ordinary, even joyful lives again.

Boston Globe Chris Fujiwara

A triumph of gentility that earns its moments of pathos.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Stands apart for its raw, quiet emotion and its shattering sense of truth.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The Son's Room is the anti-"In the Bedroom." I mean that as a compliment.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

A stately and deeply affecting look at the human condition, told in something like a series of snapshots.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Moretti's performance is low-key but detailed. He makes the psychiatrist a fascinating guy, rather austere and restrained, a Northern Italian, not an expressive Neapolitan.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

While the film is undeniably melancholy, Moretti's trademark light touch keeps it from becoming overbearing.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Occasionally melodramatic, it's also extremely effective.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

You leave the film like one of Giovanni's patients rising from the couch -- far from healed, but amused and pacified by the sympathy that has washed over you. [4 Feb 2002, p. 82]

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

I found this film deeply affecting as well. It has a gravity that's independent of technique, and an engaging spirit that's enhanced by flashes of comedy.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Despite pitch-perfect performances, the craft of Moretti's direction and his honorable intentions, The Son's Room was not especially moving.

Variety David Rooney

While devotees expecting Moretti's wry worldview may feel shortchanged, others will find this a profoundly moving experience, giving it fuel to cross borders into the arthouse niche.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Veering on the maudlin, the film ultimately succeeds by striking a universal chord on the subject of inconsolable loss. It's a stirring, humane testament from a surprising source.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A movie more to be prescribed than recommended.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Moretti's acting skills aren't up to the demands of the main role, and his portrait of family life is too simplistic to be credible.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A measured, decorous, at times pat film that manages to be quietly moving because it touches on something real.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

A bit too awed by its depiction of the healing power of love. It's minor indeed compared with "In the Bedroom," which deals with a similar subject and doesn't back away from the rawness of grief.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

The film portrays a family undone by grief over the death of a loved one; that, in any event, is its plot synopsis. More accurately, the film is a wallow of authorial narcissism, and a tedious, unrelenting, uninteresting wallow at that.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mike W. gave it a 10:
Stunning. It's in the same category as Tokyo Story in how sensitively and accurately it treats the process of grieving.

Jack D. gave it an 8:
A small movie that works because it's sincere and honest, funny and sad. It's overly simplisitic, though.

Chad S. gave it an 8:
Unlike "In the Bedroom", the third act in "The Son's Room" didn't make me cringe. A new character enters the mix of walking wounded and takes their minds off Andrea as they make an extended car trip. It takes a new country to make them feel better. The girl ushers in some fresh energy and staves off repetitiveness in the nick of time. You can't show people mourning for two hours but you shouldn't jar viewers to the extent that Todd Field did with his mildly overrated film. Although "The Son's Room" feels a little slight to be bestowed with the Palm d'or, some of the grief is quite palpatable. The haunting song that plays out to the final frame is probably what cinched the award. This is a good movie.

Madeline B. gave it a 10:
Haunting and Beautiful! Wonderful film - Moretti and rest of case terrific, touching, lovely!

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Son's Room, The Miramax Films

Son's Room, The
Miramax Films