Family Relationships in Film, Part Two: Father-Daughter and Mother-Son

About this course:

What unites every human being, regardless of race, ethnicity, or geography, is that each one of us springs biologically from one mother and one father. The nature of this primal relationship is one of the fundamental factors that defines our identities and shapes how we initially view the world. Cinema has much to say on the emotionally charged subject of parent-child relationships and conflicts. In this course, we screen and discuss a diverse selection of films, foreign and domestic, that reflect on the special bond that exists between a parent and child of opposite genders. We explore mother-son relationships in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Mother (1996) and The Only Son (1936). We explore father-daughter relationships in The Father (2020), Father of the Bride (1991) and The Whale (2022). We then watch the little-seen masterpiece Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), that deals with the inevitable changes that occur when parents become elderly while their adult children have their own lives and families. It is not necessary to have taken part one to enjoy part two.