The Son

Olivier teaches woodworking at a rehabilitation center for young people with troubled backgrounds. When the director asks him to take on a new apprentice named Francis, he refuses, claiming he already has too many students, and the boy is placed in the welding workshop instead. Yet Olivier soon begins following Francis through the building and out into the streets, drawn to him in a way he cannot explain and seems to fear.

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne directed and wrote the film, following their 1999 feature Rosetta. Olivier Gourmet leads the cast as Olivier, with Morgan Marinne as Francis, alongside Isabella Soupart, Nassim Hassaïni, Pierre Nisse and Anne Gerard. The Belgian and French production was made in French and runs just over an hour and a half.

On IMDb the film holds 7.5 out of 10 from around eleven thousand votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 7.5, from a much smaller base of roughly 170 votes. A critics' rating of 7.9 from 59 reviews places it slightly above both audience scores. The Dardennes later returned to similar territory in The Kid with a Bike, Two Days, One Night and The Unknown Girl.