The dead are gone, the living remain

Antonio 2022-03-23 09:03:32

After watching the Italian film "The Son's Room" today, I was quite touched. The story is very simple. It tells the process of an ordinary family who experienced the pain of losing a loved one and gradually changed from the severe grief at the beginning to the gradual relief afterward.

The whole movie is not long, only just over 90 minutes, and what impresses me the most is the authenticity of the movie. As we all know, the psychological trauma of the bereaved family is the heaviest. The film does a very good job at this point. It depicts the father's self-blame after losing his son, the mother's sadness after losing his beloved son, and the sister's loss after losing her younger brother. Inner irritability is portrayed very carefully and directly through language and behavior. Helpless life still has to continue, how to face the trauma has become a difficult problem for the three of them to face. We see fathers who are psychiatrists trying to release and heal themselves through the thrilling entertainment facilities of the playground, while mothers are in tears all day long, and daughters fight each other on the court and cry in the locker room of the mall. However, these negative behaviors did not alleviate their inner pains, and the originally harmonious family also became rifted. Until a letter from the son's ex-girlfriend saved the family. The first to cheer up was the mother, who bravely called her and asked to meet after her husband never had the courage to write back to tell her son what happened to his girlfriend. Finally one night, the girl came to their house. The father smiled through the photo taken by the girl before his son's death, and reminded him of his thoughts. After learning that the girl was going to France with a boy she was traveling with, she took the initiative to drive her wife, daughter and them to the French border. After saying goodbye to them, the family stepped on the beach by the sea to release their thoughts for their son and heal their pain.


Although it is a tragic drama, the film does not use overly emotional means to achieve the purpose of earning the audience's tears, but tells us the whole story through slightly sad music, specific voices and simple dialogues between characters. Begins in peace and ends in peace.

Looking back, it’s just like the passage in the movie where the father smashes the repaired things at home: people cannot be repaired perfectly after being damaged like objects, and once they are lost, they cannot be recovered. The dead are gone, the living still exist, and the pain of the soul may only be healed gradually with time.

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Extended Reading
  • Jannie 2022-03-26 09:01:14

    Very peaceful plot, like life. When the father heard the song that his son liked in the past, the paragraph was as plain as water, but he had to be moved.

  • Waylon 2022-03-26 09:01:14

    The impact of death on the living is so great, the lightness of life and the weight of grief, it is unbearable and must be endured. The selfless giving and love of an open heart may be the only way to break free from grief.