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The campus community is invited to enjoy a film screening presented by Cinechats, which is supported in part by ºÚÁÏÍø, Durham College, Arts Forum and the Durham Council for the Arts. Age restrictions apply, as most films are rated for those 18 years of age and older.

This week’s selection is  (U.K./France, 2022). The marital break-up of Peter (Hugh Jackman) and Kate (Laura Dern) has left a legacy of what the filmmaker describes as 'heartbreak, guilt, confusion, and resentments' in its wake. The resulting emotional upheaval has scarred their seventeen-year-old son Nicholas (Zen McGrath). He's become reclusive, he's been skipping school, and he scares his mother. It's decided that he'll move in with his father and his father's second wife, Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and their infant son. A successful and ambitious New York lawyer, Peter puts a lot of his focus on his career, and he labours under a sense of guilt for not always 'being there' for his teenage son. 

It's a visceral depiction of a father's anguished attempts to help his son, without ever fully understanding what's ailing him. Nicholas is afflicted with severe depression, an existential angst with which Nicholas' increasingly concerned family is ill-equipped to cope. They love Nicholas; but love isn't a panacea.  And their reactions run the gamut from confidence to self-doubt, from imploring to scolding, from sympathy to impatient frustration, and from wishful thinking to despair.   

The Son was nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes, and for the Golden Lion (Best Film) at the Venice Film Festival.  

• When: Thursday, July 27 at 6:30 p.m.
• Where: Gordon Willey Building, Room C-113

For more information about Cinechats, call 905.576.0359. Note: Film selections are subject to change.