The Son of Joseph review – arch family drama

An impossibly mannered performance style, which sees characters declaim their lines flatly, and frequently straight to camera, is a bold directorial decision in the story of Vincent (Victor Ezenfis), a teenager who longs to know his father. Although reminiscent of the line delivery favoured by Yorgos Lanthimos in Dogtooth or Lobster, without the disarming humour of those films the approach just seems arch and rather grating. Biblical symbolism is employed in the chapter headings that divide the story, and in the names – Victor’s saintly single mother is Marie (Natacha Régnier), his surrogate father figure is Joseph (Fabrizio Rongione).