Informal Review of "The Son's Room" ("la stanza del figlio")

                The Son’s Room is an Italian film that, if it is not already a realist piece reminiscent of Italian Neorealism, contains many elements of realism. The film focuses on the Sermonti family, which consists of Giovanni, a psychiatrist, Irene, his wife, and their teenaged children Paola and Andrea. When Andrea dies in a tragic scuba diving accident, the remaining family members are devastated. Each family member grieves in their own way, often causing tension within the family. However, some amount relief is given to the Sermontis when Arianna, Andrea’s secret girlfriend who had been corresponding with him through letters, visits the family, bringing with her some pictures Andrea had taken of himself in his room and sent to her. Being a more realistic film, The Son’s Room portrays grief in a very accurate way, leaving the film with an ending that is not necessarily happy, but one that is more true to real life experiences.

                The Son’s Room shows us how different people react to grief by focusing on the reactions of the different members of the Sermonti family. Paola spends most of her time out of the house after the accident, says that she feels distant from her parents, and even breaks up with her boyfriend, who she had seemed perfectly happy to be with before Andrea’s death. Irene spends most of her time crying or lying silently in bed, which she seems unwilling to share with her husband as he appears to be sleeping on the couch, she is upset with how Giovanni is handling his grief, and she seems to stake most of her personal recovery on meeting Arianna. However, it is Giovanni’s reaction that is the most intense. He blames himself for Andrea’s death and we see him go through most of the five stages of grief. First, he denies that the accident was Andrea’s fault and, instead, researches air tanks and insists that Andrea’s must have been defective. He also tries to continue life as normal immediately after his son’s funeral by going to a carnival, a place that is usually fun and exciting, but he is unable to experience any emotion even there. Giovanni even returns to his work only a day or two after Andrea’s funeral, which his wife tells him was too soon. Next, we see Giovanni experience anger. He becomes intolerant and snippy toward his patients and family, and even yells and breaks things around his house because a sermon he heard at church had upset him. We also see what may be a form of bargaining throughout the film as Giovanni imagines what would have happened if he had kept his son from going out with his friends on the day that he died. Finally, we see Giovanni become depressed. He spends much of his time sadly wandering around on his own, trying to feel better. Eventually, he even dismisses all of his patients indefinitely because he can no longer handle their emotions in addition to his. It is unclear whether or not Giovanni ever experiences acceptance during the course of the film, but it is possible that Arianna’s visit and their subsequent road trip provided the whole family with some sense of relief.

                While walking to my car last night, I heard several of my classmates complaining that there was no closure and that not enough was explained in The Son’s Room. Please understand that I am in no way putting them down for seeing the film in a different light than I did, but that I, instead, only want to share what I took from the film as it contrasts to their views. Most movies do end with some sort of closure, but, as this film focused on realism, it had little to no closure because closure does not always happen in real life. Most of the time, the pain of grief simply dulls over time and you return to normalcy without even realizing that you are feeling better. There is no immediate ending to grief in real life. While a sudden answer, complete with closure, makes for an entertaining film, it just isn’t realistic. I believe that this film was giving us a realistic view of grief and how it affects people. The Son’s Room is, in my opinion, the kind of film that you really have to think about in order to gain its full meaning and that you will probably get more out of it if you have experienced a type of loss that is similar to that of the Sermontis’.

                While The Son’s Room is not the happiest, most exciting, or easiest film to watch, it is a very powerful one. If you enjoy dramatic films or trying to understand how people think, then you may be interested in this film. Although it was extremely sad, I still highly recommend this film.