Is ‘The Son’ on Netflix Based on a True Story? How French Playwright Florian Zeller Came Up with the Emotional Drama

Netflix’s new addition, The Son, is an emotional drama first released in 2022 that’s driven in large part by the star power of Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern. The two acclaimed actors portray the divorced parents of their troubled teenager who’s going through a mental health crisis. The movie had a limited release in theaters on January 20, 2023, before finding its new home on Netflix on May 20, 2023. 

Directed and co-written by Florian Zeller, the movie also features newcomer Zen McGrath, Vanessa Kirby, and Hugh Quarshie, along with a brief cameo by Anthony Hopkins, who starred in the Academy Award-winning predecessor, The Father. 

Now on Netflix, The Son made its way onto the Top 10 chart and is currently occupying the #3 spot. As all eyes are now on Zeller’s film, many are left wondering about his inspiration for the movie. 

Is The Son based on a true story? Here’s everything you need to know about the movie’s origins. 

Is The Son on Netflix Based on a True Story? 

No, The Son is not based on a true story, but rather Zeller’s 2018 French play of the same name. However, the play – as well as its big-screen version – was inspired by a personal experience. In a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zeller said, “It comes from a personal place. It’s not my story in terms of the characters or situations, but it has to do with my own emotions. So it’s not because I wanted to tell my own story, it was more because I felt that there are so many people connected to these kinds of issues and thought it would be meaningful to share these emotions.”

Zeller also related the work back to The Father, which premiered on stage in 2012 before getting adapted for the screen. That work was inspired by the playwright’s own journey with his grandmother. He said that both stage plays received heartfelt responses from their audiences, which left him “surprised” by the universality of the stories.

In an interview with City AM, Zeller connected the themes of The Son back to his two sons, who were 24 and 14 years old at the time of the interview. “I am familiar with these emotions and not a stranger to some of these situations,” he said. “As a parent I experienced powerlessness – I remember feeling like you are the only one in that situation. The Son was a way to share these emotions, to heal something, and also to fight against shame.”

Most recently, while chatting with the Academy in 2023, the playwright confirmed that it was the audience’s passionate response to the play that inspired his drive to adapt The Son into a film, which he did with Chris Hampton, who helped write the screenplay.

Zeller has a third addition to the series of plays called The Mother, but has not expressed interest in adapting it into a movie – and despite Netflix’s trending chart, which lists Jennifer Lopez’s new action movie The Mother and Zeller’s The Son back-to-back, the two movies have no relation.

The Son is currently streaming on Netflix.