Father And Son (DVD)

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"A father´s love crucifies."
"A loving son lets himself be crucified."

Aleksandr Sokurov´s "Father and Son" is a follow-up to his 1997 film, "Mother and Son," and the difference between the two films is reflected in their respective titles; the mother is missing. Fatherless families are commonplace in most societies, for obvious reasons. Motherless families are less common, but the pain felt by the surviving family members is just as real.

The film opens with a wildly erotic scene of two naked men embracing each other in bed. One is having a nightmare. The other hugs him close and caresses his face, telling him everything is all right. At first blush, they appear to be gay lovers, but we soon learn that they are, in fact, father (Andrei) and son (Alexei.) It´s a startling way to introduce a father and son, and inspired much controversy during the film´s debut at Cannes. Sokurov, for his part, vigorously denies any homoerotic implications, suggesting such an interpretation is a uniquely Western one.

Whether or not the film is homoerotically charged, it rapidly becomes clear that Andrei and Alexei share an unusually intense bond. Alexei is a young man, about twenty, approaching the time when he must strike out on his own. However, he clings to his father, and lives at home, even though he has joined the military for medical training. Andrei, in turn, holds close to his son, waking him from his nightmares, and constantly telling him how much he loves him. They spend a lot of time walking around bare-chested (both are amazing physical specimens) and sharing long, soulful looks together.

Such an intimate bond between father and son may seem a bit unusual to many viewers, and may even cause some people to feel uncomfortable. I think the intimacy can be explained by the fact that the mother is dead, and each man sees a part of her in the other. Andrei makes this crystal clear later in the film when he tells his son, "You look so much like your mother." Alexei, in turn, sees his father as his only remaining connection to his mother, and perhaps his only connection to his childhood.

I can identify with this situation. My mother died when I was 21, and I (an only child) was left alone with my father in our house. We got along well together but the situation was still awkward. I had just graduated college and needed to start my life, yet I couldn´t bear the thought of leaving my father alone. It seemed an unspeakably cruel thing to do. Would my mother ever forgive me if I let my father suffer alone while I pursued my own selfish goals? Clearly, Alexei feels the same way.

My greatest fear was that my father might die. I thought I could deal with anything in life except that worst of all possible scenarios. Alexei shares a similar fear. He spends a lot of time looking at his father´s chest X-ray. At one point, he happily notes, "There were no spots on your lungs." However, he still fears something is wrong. The father´s performance supports the suspicion that something black and malignant lingers under his perfectly muscled body ("Muscles are an exaggeration," notes Alexei, as he stares at the X-ray.)

The son sums up his fears best in one line spoken to his father from off-camera: "Just don´t die." I remember thinking that a thousand times about my father. No matter what else, just don´t die. Having lost his mother, Alexei knows just there´s no reason his father can´t be taken from him as well, and this is why he clings so closely to him.

Eventually, Alexei realizes he has to leave. When his father wonders how it will feel to be alone, Alexei says he is certain that Andrei will remarry. Andrei smiles and thanks him, and it´s clear that he was waiting for his son to give him permission before he even considered such a possibility. It´s the finest gift the son could give to his father, and an even greater testament to the love they share. Mom must have done a pretty good job.

There is little traditional narrative in "Father and Son." A friend shows up, the son and the friend take a trolley ride, and there´s a faithless girlfriend who breaks Alexei´s heart. The film, however, constantly returns to the titular characters and their hermetic world. They live in an upper-floor apartment, and their existence seems largely restricted to the rooftop where the father lifts weights and the two play soccer, always perilously close to plunging to their deaths, but maintaining balance by holding onto one another when they need support.