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Son's Room, The: La Stanza del figlio

The Son's Room is a sincere expression of family and a realistic venture into the human experience of loss.

Writer, director, and lead actor Nanni Moretti selects a topic for his film that is rarely given such an intimate and honest treatment in cinema. When a bourgeois Italian couple loses their son, the main action turns from watching the mundane activity of a model family to watching their lives contorted by grief and anger.

Giovanni, a psychotherapist and the patriarch played by Moretti, is the main vehicle by which the pathology of death is explored.

The brillance of the script and Moretti's performance shows through most notably in this character's story. The nuances with which Moretti plays the role hints at Giovanni's own ticks and quirks rivaling those of his eccentric patients.

The smaller character roles serve as architectural supports for the edifice of Moretti's character. One patient suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder; another is a sex addict.

As a therapist, it is Giovanni's aim to help these people hide their ailments from the eyes of society. Upon his son's untimely death, the viewer is struck by the fact that grief and loss is treated similarly by society -- something that is too uncomfortable to bring out in public. Thus, the family struggles with the loss behind closed doors with each member withdrawing into their own heads.

Although a common human experience, one realizes how taboo the topic really is and with what speed families are expected to move on after such a tragedy. One particularly striking scene is a patient visit with the sex addict. Giovanni informs him that he is taking a sabbatical from his practice, but offers no explanation. The sex addict is enraged and threatens Giovanni, who maintains a perfect cool. The viewer is then hit with the reality that this man shares his patient's shocking sexual escapades each week, but feels it's inappropriate to share his grief at the death of his only son.

In the end, The Son's Room puts societal norms under the microscope. The direction is typical of narrative cinema, but this allows the story and performances to shine through. It is certainly one of the most eloquent cinematic portraits of modern life to date.

Written by: Laura Thomas

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