Friendo who’s seen Florian Zeller’s The Son (Sony Pictures Classics, 11.25): “So we face madness in this film, right in the eye. It’s like watching a burning house implode. And it’s harder to look away than to stare. Mesmerizing.

“Hugh Jackman is a man with everything — a beautiful, much younger second wife (Vanessa Kirby), a gorgeous new baby boy, a fabulous job, beautiful home, money in the bank. So what’s wrong with this picture? Laura Dern as the first wife — dumped for her younger replacement. And the teenage son (Zen McGrath) who was abandoned like a cold leftover.

“Hugh seems eager to help with his first son’s dark, mute depression at being the starter child left behind, but it’s not until we see Hugh with his own father — Anthony Hopkins in a perfectly chilling single scene — do we understand that the self-serving seed of pure narcissism was sown in Hugh long ago. And that those seeds have already taken root in his first born and will not be torn out without collateral damage.

“I applaud Florian’s bravery in showing what divorce does to children — not a popular topic for your classic self centered American adults. It also takes you a minute to realize that Jackman’s character is a self-centered ass because he seems so (superficially) well intentioned.

“But when you meet his serpent of a father (Hopkin), you realize how screwed up they all are and how this pathological myopia is passed down through the generations. The Hopkins-Jackman scene is short but deadly.

“And it’s hard not to like Jackman because he’s such an affable movie star, while we’re supposed to feel for the kid, who’s kind of a weird anti-social nerd.”

HE comment: I haven’t seen The Son but I already hate McGrath…fuck that guy.