The Son

by Florian Zeller, Christopher Hampton (Translation)

He's not like he was before. Believe me. I don't know what's happened, but something has. He's changed. He . . . And I'm wondering if . . . To be absolutely honest with you . . . I'm even wondering if . . . Nicolas, just two years ago a smiling boy, is going through a difficult phase after his parents' divorce. He's listless, skipping classes, lying. He believes moving in with his father and his new family may help. And a different school, a fresh start. When he doesn't feel comfortable there, when he senses he isn't wanted, he decides that going back to his mother's may be the answer. But at some point, options are going to dry up. And then what? I'm telling you. I don't understand what's happening to me. Florian Zeller's The Son forms the final part in a trilogy with The Mother and The Father, all of which are translated by Christopher Hampton. The Son premieres at the Kiln Theatre, London, in February 2019.

Genres: Plays, France, Drama, Fiction, Theatre, French Literature

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Florian Zeller is a French novelist and playwright. His work has been translated into a dozen languages, including English. He won the Prix Interallié in 2004 for his novel "Fascination of Evil" ("La Fascination du Pire").

Reviews

[Milena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ko još nije plakao uz Entoni Hopkinsa kada jeca "I feel as if I'm losing all my leaves" u filmu "The Father"? Nešto slično sam očekivala i od ovog drugog dela Florijana Zelera, nazvanim vrlo inventivno "The Son" (naravno ima i... "The Mother"). Ali ne. Mlako pozorišno delo, valjda će film (Hju Džekman, Vanesa Kirbi, Lora Dern i Entoni Hopkins - čiji lik ne postoji u delu, nego je dopisan) biti bolji, jer će sigurno opet upotrebiti igranje sa našom percepcijom.

Ono što zameram jeste predvidivost (Čehov, bejbi), nesrećan prevod sa francuskog na engleski koji se odražava u čudnovato artikulisanim dijalozima, kao i kad u vrlo nabijenoj sceni Zeler u didaskalijama predlaže ništa drugo do... pojačavanja do maksimuma "Adađa" Tomaza Albinonija koji se verovatno prevrće u grobu godinama gde ga sve turaju ali ok. Ok.

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Love is not enough."

[Kimiya]

با حمید فیلم تئاتر پسر رو دیدیم. حمید نقش نیکولا رو داشت. خیلی تجربه بامزه‌‌ای بود.

[Mehrdad · Rating 5 out of 5]

۱. شخصیت های نمایشنامه های زلر اسامی یکسانی دارن و این یه جورایی امضای اونه

۲. سه گانه مادر، پدر و پسر با اختلاف بهترین کارهاشن

۳. داستان درباره پسر نوجوان(نیکلا) مردیست که از همسرش جدا شده. نیکلا با جدایی پدرش از مادرش کنار نیومده و دوران سختی رو پشت سر میذاره... مثل دو نمایشنامه دیگه این نمایشنامه هم به تجربه درونی شخصیت اصلی میپردازه اما این بار "پسر" حرف زیادی نمی‌زنه و ما دقیقا متوجه نمی‌شیم چیا داره تو فکرش میگذره. فضای داستان اما به وهم آلودی "مادر" و "پدر" نبود و وقایع کمتر ابهام برانگیز بودن.

۴. نمیتونم صبر کنم تا فیلمشو با بازی هیو جکمن ببینم!

۵. تنهایی نمایشنامه خوندن خیلی دلگیره...

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not one of the better Zeller/Hampton scripts - it tends to meander a bit, and though the ending contains a few surprising shockers, it doesn't quite have the impact of, say, The Father. Still, I am looking forward to the upcoming film adaptation, again directed by Zeller, and starring Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Vanessa Kirby.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A portrait of teen depression and family dynamics. More emotionally compelling than intellectually interesting.

[Boyka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow it couldn't move me quite the way "The father" did. Watching the play today at the Bulgarian National theater cemented this feeling - the writing just seems less layered and more abrupt.

Having said that, it is still a moving showcase of neglecting and misunderstanding depression/any psychological deviation really. My respect to Florian Zeller for focusing plays on those very real and urgent topics.

[Pejman · Rating 3 out of 5]

...جوانی دچار افسردگی و خانواده ی فروپاشیده ای که می خواهند ولی نمی توانند
.
بیست، سی صفحه ی آخر درخشان ست
ولی در مجموع
ضعیفترین بخش سه گانه(دو تای دیگر مادر و پدر).
.
متن بیشتر حالت خطی دارد و جزء چند جا خبری از تکرارهای مختلف(که ویژگی برجسته ی دو نمایشنامه دیگرست) نیست
.
ترجمه خوب

[Mina · Rating 5 out of 5]

نمونه بارز نمایشنامه عالی و قوی.
قلبم شکست اصلا :""")

[Gaëtan Gaillard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le Fils est la dernière pièce d'un triptyque familial commencé avec l'excellent Le Père suivie du fascinant La Mère.
Le Fils montre le mal-être total d'un fils face auquel les parents (ainsi que la belle-mère) se trouvent impuissants. Face au mutisme de leur enfant, le père (surtout) cherche une issue en se faisant ses propre hypothèses sur les problèmes de son fils ou en se basant sur son vécu.
D'un côté cela ouvre une réflexion intéressante sur la répétition de certains schémas familiaux (il se met à répéter les mêmes phrases que son propre père, qu'il déteste, prononçait à son encontre). De plus, on peut se demander que signifie "réussir sa vie", "aller bien". Les personnages ne sont clairement pas d'accord.
Par contre il est extrêmement frustrant de voir que jamais les parents ne pensent à consulter un psychiatre alors qu'il est évident que le trouble du fils est psychologique. Une réflexion de plus à faire sur l'écart génerationnel par rapport à la gestion des troubles mentaux.
Une pièce très dure, aux multiples axes de lecture, très intéressante.

[Hasan Abbasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

آخرین نمایش از تراژدی های سه گانه زلر، بعد از مادر و پدر. و به نظرم بهترین از این سه. اینکه خانواده های جوامع مدرن چگونه در حال فروپاشی و هویت باختگی هستند. چگونه هر نقش خانواده مستقل از نقش های دیگر در حال خود ویرانگریست و بیماری افسردگی و شیزوفرنی مدرن چگونه عمل میکند. نمایش به وضعیت پسری میپردازد که تنهایی و رنج عمیق دنیای مدرن تماما او را فرا گرفته است. نیروهای زندگیش به دلیل فقدان معنا تماما نابود شده و در یک وضعیت برزخی تمام نشدنی زندگی میکند و تنها چیزی که نیاز دارد نبودن است و پدر و مادر که آنها هم شکست خوردگانی قدیمیند هیچ کاری از دستشان بر نمی آید. پسر به گونه ای هم نماد طغیان است و هم نماد ناکار آمدی. در واقع او در وضعیت از وجود به سر میبرد که وجود خود را نفی میکند. همان نقطه ای شیزوفرنی و دپرشن ظهور کرده اند. بی معنایی مطلق.

[Ana Leite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aqui a mudar a minha avaliação para 5 estrelas às duas da manhã porque não consigo dormir. A necessidade de chorar por causa desta peça é mais forte. Pele? Seca!

[S.I. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for "it was okay" (not "it was horrible"). Note that I did read the play, I did not see it performed. This review contains massive spoilers and is very subjective.

My initial reaction upon finishing was of being dissatisfied. I think this is because I relate primarily to the titular son, and his character was not investigated all that much. I had little to cling to on that front, and my favorite bit was probably a brief exchange between Nicolas (the son) and his step-mother Sofia.

The play is more about the parents (hence the name of the play being relational). The father is really the lead character, and the play seemed to quietly question our society's embrace of individualism: the father drops out of the bonds of family in the name of individual happiness (which is certainly playing by the rules of our society's dominant narratives), and it ultimately shattered his life and the lives of everyone around him. Other people might get other things out of the play, but I found that an interesting, and challenging, idea.

Two things really bothered me and took me out of the story. Firstly, I found it hard to believe that the parents had no idea that Nicolas was going into the other room to kill himself. Secondly, how did the parents never have him see a therapist, with all the "I don't know what to do with him" talk? Who knows if it would've saved his life, but come on.

[Felipe Follador · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the most original story, but a solid, compelling and very realistic dialogue.

[lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

je sais même pas quoi dire à quel point je suis bouleversée

[alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Résumé :

On suit l'histoire d'un jeune lycéen qui s'appelle Nicolas. Ses parents sont séparés, son père ayant trouvé une nouvelle femme et refait un petit garçon, il vit donc chez sa mère. Sauf que, problème, sa relation avec elle s'aggrave jusqu'au point où il demande à son père de l'héberger. Chose qu'il accepte, au dépourvu de sa femme qui elle, n'est pas trop d'accord.
L'histoire tourne autour de la dépression de Nicolas, qui n'a plus goût à la vie.
Ses parents font tout leur possible pour l'aider, déjà, en le faisant changer d'établissement puis de maison et d'entourage. Il alla même à l'hôpital dans la section psychiatrie après avoir tenté de mettre fin à ses jours. Il y reste à une semaine, mais ne supportant pas l'endroit, il supplia ses parents de signer une décharge pour partir. Ce qu'il firent alors que même le médecin était contre.
Nicolas se suicida par la suite avec le fusil de son père.



Avis :

J'ai bien aimé lire ce livre. C'est du théâtre contemporain avec un langage courant, ce qui change des pièces de théâtre avec une langue extrêmement soutenue avec des notes à toutes les pages des nouvelles éditions.
Le thème était assez intéressant puisque, malheureusement, en tant qu'adolescent, on y est plus ou moins touché, que ce soit par nous-même ou par nos proches.
Au niveau des personnages, je me suis plutôt retrouvée dans le personnage du père. C'est assez compliqué déjà de comprendre que notre proche est en dépression. On essaie de faire de notre mieux pour l'aider, en étant souvent maladroit.
On n'arrive pas à comprendre pourquoi ils sont comme ça, on peut d'abord penser que ce n'est qu'une passe, mais ce n'est pas le cas. Je pense que dans cette situation, le mieux est d'emmener notre proche voir un psychologue ou une personne dans le domaine médical adapté, si iel est d'accord avec cela.


Questions cours (dans le cadre de mon cours de français) :

Dans une tragédie, il y a une fatalité qui peut, par exemple, être un poids pour la famille, et qui se termine avec un destin inexorable.
Dans cette pièce, la fatalité n'est pas présentée puisque le destin peut toujours être changé. L'histoire se termine par la mort de Nicolas qui plus est n'est pas une mort naturelle mais un suicide. Elle a une répercussion sur la famille, qui doit faire son deuil.
Comme émotion, j'ai ressenti de la tristesse et de la panique. Pour la tristesse, j'y associe le passage de quand son père et sa femme étaient censé partir à un dîner, mais il y a la nounou qui les a lâché donc Nicolas se proposa pour garder l'enfant, mais Sofia (sa femme) refusa. C'est d'ailleurs après cette scène qu'il retourne à voir sa mère.
Pour la panique, j'associe le passage de quand Nicolas parler avec son père du fusil, et qu'il demanda si l'arme était chargée. Je n'osais plus tourner les pages par peur qu'il se tire une balle (cartouche).

2 passages dans lesquels je me suis sentie proche avec le père :
Quand après avoir appris que Nicolas n'allait plus à l'école, sa réaction d'un compréhension. Il essaya de le comprendre, en vain.
Et quand, pendant que Nicolas le supplier de signer la décharge pour quitter l'hôpital, il accepta. Dans cette situation, on est bloqué entre l'amour qu'on a pour notre proche et l'avis médicale. C'est un choix compliqué, qui a d'ailleurs coûté la vie à Nicolas.

La fin:
Dans le dernier chapitre, on voit une scène de Nicolas adulte, ce qui est une hallucination du père.
J'en déduis que le père est traumatisé de la mort de son fils, se sentant même coupable. Je pense qu'il regrette de ne pas avoir passé assez de temps avec lui, d'avoir gardé le fusil de son père, qui plus est chargé, d'avoir signé la décharge... il se remet en tête toutes les actions qu'il aurait pu faire, ou pas, pour que cette version de Nicolas existe un jour. Il n'a pas encore fait son deuil, n'acceptant pas que son fils soit mort.



Biographie :

Florian ZELLER est un écrivain, scénariste et réalisateur français né à Paris.
Il a sorti son premier roman à 22 ans, "Neige Artificiel" et est récompensé par le Prix de la Fondation Hachette. Il est l'un des auteurs les plus remarqués de la scène littéraire française. Son premier film "The Father" remporte l'Oscar du meilleur scénario adapté.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Born in Paris in 1979, Florian Zeller was raised by his grandmother and mother, as his father worked and lived in Germany. A coma caused by a serious asthma attack at the age of 15 changed the course of his life. As he said later, "I think it’s at that moment that worry and writing entered my life”. He still lives in the capital.

Florian Zeller is best know for writing and directing the award-winning film starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, The Father. Both leading actors won oscars for their performances. Inevitably The Son has also been made into a film.

Le Fils premiered in February 2018 at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées. Pierre has left Anne for Sofia, with whom he has a baby. Nicolas, teenage son of Anne and Pierre, refuses to go to school and can’t see the point of anything. What does it serve, life? Nicolas, listless, exhibits serious mental health problems of which self-harming is just one. Nicolas wants something to change but he doesn’t know what. His depression gradually becomes clear to his separated parents but they are at a loss to know what to do with their previously happy and smiling son.

The characters, while flawed and frustrating, are deeply human, grappling with their own insecurities and vulnerabilities.

Le Fils is an attempt to make us face what we want to not think about - mental health. Because illnesses associated with mental health are so are intangible we never seem them as being similar to serious physical illnesses.

Who is to blame for Nicolas’s illness? The parents? Nicolas himself? Society? And in making the audience grapple with such problems, throughout the play, the author doesn’t ever let his audience sit comfortably. Not for a moment. And there are no easy solutions to Nicolas’s plight. We struggle to comprehend Nicolas. We struggle to explain his suffering and withdrawal. Can those who possess both enthusiasm and a zest for life every fully comprehend such turmoil?

Pierre wants his son to succeed and can’t see that his idea of success may not be shared. And he just can’t understand why Nicolas would want to cut himself:

Peter: When you hurt yourself, it's as if you're doing it to me.
Nicholas: And when you hurt mum, you were doing it to me.

It’s not easy for Sofia who is understandably pre-occupied with looking after her baby son. She does her best to welcome Nicolas into their home, but would she be comfortable letting him babysit?

The play deal with difficult themes, exploring depression, guilt, suicide, and the complexities of communication within families. While the writer enables the reader to find empathy for all characters, one can’t help feeling that the writer is also playing with his audience, creating troubling and uncomfortable dilemmas which are provoking and emotional.

Just how can we assist a child who seems to desire nothing, who won’t go to school, who is not interesting in making friends, and who totally lacks interest and motivation? Anne feels guilt and desperation, while Pierre grapples with his own shortcomings as a father.

Reviews of the play, and the film, were varied, with some critics finding it overly melodramatic, sentimental and giving a distorted vision of mental health. Yet, when the film premiered in September 2022 at the Venice Film Festival, it earned rare 10-minutes standing ovation after the screening. Michael Billington of The Guardian wrote, “I’d defy anyone not to be moved by this study of the disruptive dynamics of family life.”

Le Fils is not a play that offers easy answers. It forces the audience to confront uncomfortable realities and question their own perspectives on family dynamics and mental health. Is a play or a film the best arena to thrash out such questions? Florian Zeller has argued that the Arts are so important for this very reason and because they help us remember that we are all in the same boat.

See the French version of this review at Les Liaisons Litteraires

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third play in the Florian Zeller's trilogy about a family's struggle with illness is, in my opinion, the most gripping on. This story deals with Anne and Pierre after the breakup and dealing with shared custody of a son, Nicolas, who has been affected by the divorce greatly. This play deals with suicide, depression, anxiety and caring for a sick son. This heartbreaking play leaves a reader in tears. In true Zeller fashion, this play relies on sound and several classical songs to help paint dramatic imagery. The stage directions add to this poignant imagery.

[Coates · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty unsettling play, in the domestic drama world of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf or Revolutionary Road. A father and his ex-wife try to navigate their teenage son's mental breakdown, which reveals the shortcomings in the grown-ups' worlds and the lives they've tried to construct. The stage directions sound like they add some interesting performance elements (things we see that characters don't, for example). But the end is too sad for this dad.

[Shekoofe Hejazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

جایی خوندم:
به کسی که همین الان پاش قطع شده نمیتونیم بگیم چرا شلوغش میکنی؟ مگه چی کم داری؟ پاشو جمعش کن چیزی نشده..
چون میدونیم الان در اوضاع خوبی نیست که این حرفو بهش بزنیم.
شرایط بیماران روحی روانی هم دقیقا مشابه همین قضیه‌ست.
نمایشنامه پسر درمورد نیکلاست که پدر و مادرش از هم جدا شدند و از افسردگی شدید رنج میبره... این کتاب تمام برخوردهای غلطی که یک خانواده میتونند با یک شخص افسرده انجام دهند رو به تصویر کشیده.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried so much because of how true and relatable it was. It really scared me how much I saw myself in him.
By the way, the ending was so devastating — I really thought everything was real, but at the end of the day he's left...
I really relate when he says he doesn’t know what makes him sad, or when he says he can’t live, go to school, or explain his situation — because you just can’t put it into words.

[jas · Rating 4 out of 5]

On a lu ce livre pendant le cours de français, mais comme on n'avançait pas beaucoup j'ai fini pour terminer le livre avant tous. Au début j'avais pensé que c'était un livre banal; la classique histoire d'un adolescent en dépression avec un coup de scène et puis une fin heureuse.

Je me suis trompée.
Bouleversant.

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bold and inventive. Zeller is reinventing realism brilliantly by making space central to the realist inquiry. This is a gut-punch of a family drama that refuses to do all of the explaining with which so much realism is obsessed. Zeller allows our decisions, our conversations, our feelings to remain a mystery. This is great.

[Ethar Abuhashish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A play turned into a movie (2022), played by Hugh Jackman. It portrays a father-son relationship when the son goes through depression and how their relationship goes through ups and downs. this play is a prequel to "the father/ Le Pére" written by the same author. the later was turned into a movie in 2020, and played by Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman.

[joaqui. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I’d have liked never to be my age. It’s too complicated for me.
Too many responsibilities. Too much pressure. I preferred it when I was a
child."

adapted film:
the son (upcoming) dir. Florian Zeller.

[Parker Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

No shit your unmedicated suicidal son with clinical depression you abandoned in early childhood will stick your dad’s hunting rifle in his mouth, dude.

I coulda told you that and I’m a pot-smoking 22 year-old grad of Sarah Lawrence. Not exactly rocket science.

[Chris Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whereas The Father was told from the father, The Mother by the mother, The Son is told to us by anyone but the son. While this would be my second pick from
Zeller’s trilogy of neurochallenged relatives, I feel it could have been deeper had he stuck to form and let the son lead.

[Svitlana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Накал эмоций невероятный. Каждое предложение звенит как натянутая струна. Но слова в этих предложениях совершенно обыкновенные.
Это подобно такому же чуду, когда звуки, извлекаемые из деревянной коробки с проволокой струн, трогают душу.

[Katarína · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vyborna hra, velmi dobre vystihnute citenie a prezivanie vsetkych postav.
Sucasne v sebe nesie vystrahu, ze pocity, akekolvek, sa nesmu podcenovat.

[lolaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

omd thats was so good. i went through a rollercoaster of emotions just now i thought nicholas was alive then he wasnt so thats not ok.
anyway me🤝nicholas