Vater und Sohn

Summary

Father and Son

A father and his son have lived together for years in an old apartment in the center of St. Petersburg. The mother has been dead a long time; nothing evokes her memory. The apartment is decorated in a Spartan fashion. A set of weights and a soccer ball are the only luxuries lying around.

The father is around 45 years old. His son is in his 20s. After all these years, they have built their own private world around them, full of memories, rituals and co-dependency. But their paths are slowly separating because both men hold on to a secret.
The father hides the story of a friend who disappeared in vengeance against an absurd war. The son is afraid to come to terms emotionally with his girlfriend. Each man wants to help the other, but they end up only hurting each other more. The events climax to a point where a decision must be made – either continue their lives together or start separate lives apart.
As in his other films, Aleksandr Sokurov reduces the action of Father and Son to the essential. In several concentrated scenes, he tells the story of a hermetic life that protects its inhabitants as much as it imprisons them.

Source: German films Service & Marketing GmbH