Florian Zeller has another bash at the family crisis rising out of one form of mental anguish or another.
'The Father' was outstanding and who can blame him for thinking that perhaps this was worth the trouble? That was his first feature as Director. This is his 'difficult second album.'
The general consensus says not perfect, however. As a father to three sons, you might imagine that this was perfect for me in the same way that I would have been affected by the story of a parents' helpless descent into dementia, which also touched a nerve too raw, like many others, I would imagine.
The performances from both Dern and Jackman are very good, but this has big shoes to fill. Colman and Hopkins (who also appears briefly here) were incredible in The Father and if this had come before and not after, then this might have fared better critically from those moved to such an extent as to comment.
As it stands, this is an accomplished piece but is undermined by a less than convincing performance from Zen McGrath who just doesn't deliver the disenchanted, lost and inconsolable son that matches expectations from not only those that were blown away by Zeller's previous effort, but also those that have literally lived through the same scenario.