When women tell the fathers’ story. The Quite Son, a Story of Love and Wounds

Fatherhood as seen by two women. This a man’s world recounted through the female gaze that highlights familial love, which is capable of going beyond the senselessness of certain children’s choices in the foreground. French directors –and sisters- Delphine and Muriel Coulin, have brought to our screens one of most moving films of recent times. The Quite Son (the original title is Jouer avec le feu, playing with fire), commences from an alarming social phenomenon, which is the fascination exerted on young people by violent far-right movements. The Quite Son tells the story of family dynamics and especially the unconditional love a father has for his children, even when they make mistakes.

The film was awarded the Coppa Volpi for best male performance, to actor Vincent Lindon (considered the new Jean Gabin) at the last Venice Film Festival. The film embodies all possible humanity in a railroad worker who, widowed, devotedly raises his two boys, ages 23 and 17, while juggling long hours at work, which often include night shifts. A man of few words but sound principles, the protagonist is a former trade unionist, who takes every responsibility onto his shoulders.  He constantly honors the memory of the children’s mother (an absence so felt, within the family, that it becomes a sort of presence), and exercises the authority inherent in his parental role without ever forgetting tenderness. While the youngest son studies hard and does as he is told, doing his best to be admitted to the Sorbonne (the film is set away from the big city centrers), the eldest son harbours a growing dissatisfaction that is destined to result in the anger that will lead him to be sucked into a violent and racist neo-Nazi group. The father is lost, does not understand, gets angry, argues with the boy whom he would like to forbid from keeping such bad company, but to no avail. Nevertheless, even when events take a tragic turn and the young man takes an irreversible path, the man does not renounce his role as father. He continues to be there, and does not stop loving the son who has done wrong.

It is, therefore, an unprecedented portrayal of fatherhood compared to traditional narratives, not only in cinema but in the wider cultural sphere too. The father shines at the heart of a compelling story that blends social issues, family relationships, and very contemporary tragedies, all without a hint of rhetoric; instead, The Quite Son is marked by authenticity and raw emotion. This is the merit of the directors, who go beyond stereotypes to explore situations and feelings with realism and intellectual honesty. This is the well-recognised female gaze in cinema.

by Gloria Satta