The Son's Room is the story of a family's devastation when their teenage son is killed in a diving accident. Italian director Nanni Moretti, better known for his more comedic work, has made a remarkable film giving a dead-on portrayal of a very real family dealing with its loss and its subsequent struggle to get on with life. Winner of the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes festival, this film lives up to the unfulfilled promise of the similarly themed In the Bedroom.
Moretti also stars as the father, Giovanni, a psychotherapist who patiently listens and does his best to advise his clients. Through small moments in personal interactions, Moretti lets us know Giovanni, his wife Paola, (Laura Morante), daughter Irene (Jasmine Trinca) and son Andrea (Giuseppe Sanfelice). These moments reveal a basically contented group that shares the ups and downs of everyday life. Giovanni likes to spend time with his son running and pushes him to be a little more competitive. Paola and Giovanni share intimate and mundane moments, both physically and emotionally. Irene and Andrea display sibling fondness and attachment for each other. Irene's passion is basketball and the family enthusiastically treks to her games. Andrea is an easy going, well-liked, and imperfect kid. We even get to know some of Giovanni's clients and his relationship to them. His professional progress with them foreshadows the healing process he will soon face: painful and tedious.
This understanding of who these people are require us to share in the anguish at Andrea's death. In a series of "what if" scenes, we speculate on how Andrea would not have died had he not gone diving. His dad might have insisted that Andrea come running instead. If only Giovanni had not answered the emergency call from a client. The little string of regrets feels all too human at remorse over the path not taken that might have changed everything. The film is full of such insights. There is not a wasted shot or one that does not reveal the raw pain and make us identify more deeply with those left grieving.
Paola behaves quite differently from her husband in confronting her loss. She retreats to her room and finds it difficult to accept her husband's or daughter's comfort. Daughter Irene briefly takes on the caregiver role to both her parents and we feel her isolation and pain when her efforts are rejected. Giovanni finds it increasingly difficult to go on providing compassionate therapy to his clients and decides to give up his practice. They find little solace in religion, and hold a service mostly because they are expected to by the community.
One day after the funeral, a letter arrives for Andrea. It is a love letter from a girl he met while at summer camp. She does not know of his accident. This provides the impetus for Paola to begin working through her grief. Andrea is kept alive a little longer through the letter and the girl. The subsequent meeting allows the whole family to move on. This film is about an ordinary family who must deal with one of life's most painful events. One reason it works so well is because the central event is so ordinary. It does not deteriorate to melodrama. There are no over-dramatized episodes. These people are not emotional cripples. They have the kind of family many people wish for and still tragedy is beyond their control. It is how they are able to work through the ordeal that makes this a film of power and triumph rather than despair. These are those people who need people who are the luckiest people in the world.
DVD