The Son's Room

A family struggles to go on after a devastating loss in this deeply emotional drama from Italy. Giovanni ( Nanni Moretti ) is a psychiatrist with a successful practice in a small community near the ocean. Giovanni has a warm relationship with his wife Paola ( Laura Morante ), and they have a pair of well-adjusted teenage kids, Andrea ( Giuseppe Sanfelice ) and Irene ( Jasmine Trinca ). But the family's calm is shattered when Andrea is unexpectedly killed in an accident. Giovanni finds it impossible to continue with his work, and blames himself for the death, since he was planning to go jogging with Andrea that morning before he opted instead to take an emergency call from a client. Paola and Irene try to keep their emotions in check, but both find this all but impossible as they sink further into anger and grief. The appearance of an unexpected visitor, however, forces the family to confront their feelings about Andrea. Arianna ( Sofia Vigliar ) is a girl who had a summer romance with Andrea the year before, and has come to town to pay him a surprise visit, unaware of his recent death. Nanni Moretti directed and co-wrote this film, while also starring as Giovanni; it was his first dramatic feature in over a decade after devoting himself to documentaries and short films. — Mark Deming