Son, The

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It is as assured and flawless a telling of sadness and joy as I have ever seen.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

The ability to conceive a compact drama on this huge subject and to embody it as perfectly as they have done, added to what they have already accomplished, puts Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne among the premier film artists of our time.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

It combines a fresh and exciting style with stunning performances and that rarity in current film, a deeply humanistic story.

Slate David Edelstein

By the climax, we can hardly breathe -- The outcome is less important than our utter and complete empathy with this man. As we await what he does, we breathe with him, in and out. This is an astonishing movie.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The Dardennes's masterful casting and austere style amplify this simple but powerful parable.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

The Dardennes sustain that tension through a masterful closing drive that resembles the final third of "In The Bedroom," only without the same dreadful inevitability.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

For all its quasi-documentary materialism, The Son is ultimately a Christian allegory of one man's inchoate desire to return good for evil. The movie requires a measure of faith, and like a job well done, it repays that trust.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

There are all sorts of ways to look at The Son -- as a philosophical thriller, as a statement of faith, as a call to political arms or just as a terrific entertainment.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

To call The Son a masterpiece would be to insult its modesty. Like the homely, useful boxes Olivier teaches his prodigals to build, it is sturdy, durable and, in its downcast, unobtrusive way, miraculous.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Makes no attempt to entertain us. Much of this extraordinarily tactful movie, like "Rosetta," is shot in close-up, focusing on the back of Olivier's neck, as if inviting us to see the world as he does.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

To my knowledge there's no one anywhere making films with such a sharp sense of contemporary working-class life -- but for the Dardennes it's only the starting point of a spiritual and profoundly ethical odyssey.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a movie imbued with a fierce intimacy -- a tone and style similar to cinema verite documentary -- but it's not a banal realism, even if the characters and settings in contemporary working-class Liege initially seem mundane.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The results are a harrowingly intimate connection with a torn, tormented father, and an uncommonly powerful film.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Shrewd, highly controlled little film from Belgium that builds to an unexpected emotional climax.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The real star of The Son isn't lead actor Olivier Gourmet. It's the back of his neck, which the camera obsessively focuses on throughout this difficult but rewarding Belgian drama.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

A prime piece of whirlybird filmmaking, and the technique saps what might have been a powerful experience.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Whatever allure The Son has lies in its very remoteness, in its resolute refusal to show us all but the most delicate emotional vibrations. It also moves very sluggishly.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Sitting through the film is punishing work. The jittery closeups create a response that is more physical (I'm thinking nausea) than emotional, and there are no respites.