The Son (2017)
| TV movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The son |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2017 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Urs Egger |
| script |
Dagmar Gabler , Trevor Peters |
| production | Tanja Ziegler |
| music |
Ina Siefert , Nellis du Biel |
| camera | Konstantin Kröning |
| cut | Andrea Mertens |
| occupation | |
| |
Der Sohn is a German television film about the complex relationship between a worried, single mother and her pubescent, asthma-sick son, which is increasingly shaped by suspicion against the background of a series of sexual murders. The film combines elements of the thriller genre with elements of family and psychodrama . Der Sohn celebrated its premiere on June 26, 2017 at the Munich Film Festival , the first broadcast took place on September 6, 2017 as part of the ARD series FilmWittwoch im Erste .
action
The single mother Katharina lives with her sixteen-year-old son Stefan in a provincial town where everyone knows everyone. The two are united by an unusually close relationship that is characterized by mutual dependence. Above all, Katharina is very attached to her son, whom she still helps with getting dressed and even bathing, which sometimes leads to uncomfortable situations between the mother and the adolescent. Although the teenager is often on the move, biking a lot and has a sporty figure, Stefan does not find the physical training position he longs for, has no girlfriend and is avoided by boys his age. Because Stefan has suffered from persistent asthma since childhood and is dependent on his inhaler. His own awkwardness and reticence do the rest. You can therefore expect a phone call, a curious question or the appearance of the always worried mother Katharina. Stefan is mostly alone, especially at night when he's roaming around on his bike and pursuing his burgeoning sexual desire by watching couples having sex.
Katharina works in the hairdressing salon of the ostensibly helpful and helpful Marlies, where she urgently tries to get Stefan around and encourages him to accompany the young intern Lilijana home. However, the socially inexperienced Stefan embarrasses himself and makes a mockery of the local youth. Katharina herself appears mostly in a friendly and reserved manner, although she is quite attractive and always well-groomed, and apart from her choir singing, is rarely around people. The charming store clerk Detlef Schröder tries to hook up with her, but the advances fail after the first date because of Stefan's jealous hostility, but above all because of Katharina's peculiar bias, nourished by her constant worries.
Meanwhile, Stefan has found a job at the Horticultural Department, where he settles down quite well after some initial difficulties. Katharina, however, has a frightening suspicion when a woman is found raped and murdered at a skater facility not far from Stefan's place of action. Katharina asks her son about his nocturnal activities, but Stefan, tired of the probing questions and over-mothering, is silent. The suspicious Katharina now follows him at night and witnesses how her son secretly observes prostitutes behind a brothel while he pleases himself. Each of her discoveries feeds Katharina's suspicions that Stefan might have something to do with the murder.
After a second murder with rape occurs - the cases are now the talk of the town - Katharina discovers violent sadomasochistic porn on Stefan's laptop, which shocked her deeply. Katharina's concern about the boy's seemingly excessive sexuality grows to such an extent that she reaches into the crotch of her own son's bath while bathing. A power struggle between mother and son has long since developed, in which Stefan is actually becoming more and more drastic and aggressive. Katharina feels increasingly estranged from her own child, and neither Detlef, boss Marlies, nor the policeman Ralf appear to the desperate woman to be helpful contacts. So she confronts Stefan directly because of her suspicions. When he gets upset and has life-threatening shortness of breath, Katharina first runs to fetch him the inhaler with the asthma medication, but after some hesitation decides at the last moment against helping her son and thus ensures his son's death from suffocation .
A few weeks later: Katharina is still deeply depressed about the death of her son and the accompanying circumstances when she receives policeman Ralf in her apartment, who has to give her a shocking message.
production
The script for the NDR television film by Dagmar Gabler , in collaboration with Trevor Peters , was based on a book by Peter Andersson.
The shooting of the Berlin Ziegler Film took place from November 15 to December 19, 2016, mainly in Güstrow (three weeks) and Berlin.
The son was shown at several German film festivals in 2017 and was nominated for the German Academy of Performing Arts' TV film award at the Munich Film Festival, where it premiered on June 26, 2017, in the New German Television category and at the Baden-Baden TV Film Festival.
Reviews
The son received mostly appreciative reviews. Urs Egger's good acting was praised again and again, the story and the oppressive atmosphere were praised, as was the credibility of the performance and the attraction of the two main actors Mina Tander and Nino Böhlau . A few points were criticized, for example regarding the dialogues in the subplot strands:
“Mina Tander, otherwise to be found far too often in uninspiring comedies, proves her true acting talent as Katharina. With every gesture, every frightened look, this woman gradually reveals to the viewer that her mothering ultimately has to do with her own image of men. Only with this image in mind can she even get the idea that she and her son may have created a monster too. […] The son is a film that captivates the viewer from the start and doesn't let go of them for a long time. He is constantly changing, ranging from the supermother and the oppressed son of the beginning to a possible killer and a woman vacillating between madness and hysteria. Urs Egger's work is a brilliant start to the new television film season. And it would be even better if the dialogues in the hairdressing salon weren't so badly stilted. "
“It is precisely because of Tander's tempting attractiveness that in some moments - for example with Stefan's bathtub - the two seem like one of those couples who can't get along with each other, but certainly not without each other. The mother's sublimated eroticism, perfectly expressed by Mina Tander's delicate feminine charisma, and the son's awakening sexuality form a highly explosive mixture. [...] Urs Egger's direction is characterized by the precise management of the actors, with Nino Böhlaus' explosive, but not exaggerated aggressiveness lending the relationship between mother and son a strong authenticity. "
Web links
- The son in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The son at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ^ The Son: Release Info , imdb.com, accessed January 28, 2019.
- ↑ Der Sohn , daserste.de, accessed on September 26, 2018.
- ↑ Statement by Peter Andersson , daserste.de, accessed on January 28, 2019.
- ↑ The Son , crew-united.com, accessed January 28, 2019.
- ↑ Great three weeks film shoot in Güstrow. svz.de, accessed on January 28, 2019.
- ^ Arnold Hohmann: About overprotection and delusion: ARD captivates with "The Son". In: Berliner Morgenpost . September 17, 2018, accessed January 28, 2019 .
- ↑ The-pleasure-in-the-oppression. In: Frankfurter Neue Presse . Retrieved September 26, 2018 .