Entering awards season two years removed from the success of his directorial debut, The Father, a film that was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two, Florian Zeller’s follow-up, The Son, had some lofty, albeit slightly unrealistic expectations, if for no other reason than that some deemed it a continuation of the story. In contrast, others viewed its Christmas Day limited release as indicating that the production company believed the movie would likely receive the same critical acclaim (98% critics, 94% audience) as The Father and wanted to keep the film fresh in voters’ minds as much as possible. Sadly, the film failed to resonate with either group (a paltry 26% among critics and a lukewarm 67% among audiences). As a result, the film will fail to reach $1,000,000 at the box office despite a star-studded cast that flanked (and outmatched) the relatively unknown Zen McGrath (Dig), who played the title character.