Luke Evans and Billy Porter shine in divorce drama Our Son
Nicky (Luke Evans) and Gabriel (Billy Porter) are a married couple and parents to eight-year-old Owen. After thirteen years together their relationship is in trouble, and with neither man seemingly happy their frustrated arguments are having an impact on their young son. Things come to a head when Gabriel asks Nicky for a divorce.
Though the two had been coparenting for years they soon find themselves embroiled in a bitter custody battle, each man claiming he should have sole physical custody of their child. While Nicky has a high-flying job in publishing and could provide anything their son might need, he is emotionally distant with Owen and clearly struggles to connect with him in the same way Gabriel does. Gabriel on the other hand has spent the past eight years as a stay-at-home dad and couldn’t be closer with their son – but with no job and no home of his own there are questions about his means.
As the legal dispute intensifies things turn mean, and each parent seeks to prove themselves the better choice by putting the other down. While we’re at a point in society where films about gay romance and marriage are becoming far more commonplace, Our Son is one of only a handful of stories to tackle the subject of gay divorce.
Writer/director Bill Oliver takes a fairly even-handed approach to Our Son, showing both parents stories with no suggestion that either one of them is the bad guy (though yes, I absolutely couldn’t help but take a side.) We appreciate that it is impossible for Nicky to be the fun parent whilst also working long hours as the sole breadwinner in the family. Just as hard is the idea that Gabriel will now not be able to see their son everyday after having been his main caregiver for eight years.
Porter and Evans have such little chemistry that it’s hard to believe they ever would have been together in the first place – but they convincingly play hatred, having some absolutely bruising, emotionally exhausting arguments. Having sobbed through all three seasons of Pose I already knew Billy Porter was a world class level crier, but Luke Evans is the revelation here. Delivering what must be the best performance of his career, we watch as the stoic Nicky is forced to reassess his relationship with his son as the family falls apart.
Our Son doesn’t really stray far from the well-trodden track of divorce dramas that have come before it, delivering us the standard story beats in the order you would expect and coming to a conclusion you could have seen coming a mile off. While it does have a fresh perspective, the couple are having the exact same arguments about the exact same things splitting couples have been arguing about on screen for decades, with none of those scenes quite having the impact of say Marriage Story or Kramer vs. Kramer.
Still, Our Son is a natural crowd pleaser propelled by moving performances (particularly excellent Evans) and authentic storytelling. If the takeaway message of the film is that all families are having the same sort of issues no matter what they look like from the outside, then we can’t be mad about it all feeling a bit too familiar. There’s an emotional richness to this story, and audiences will find it easy to be swept along to its quiet but hopeful conclusion.
Our Son is screening as part of the BFI Flare Festival. It’s available on digital download from 25th March 2024
