Based on Florian Zeller’s play, The Son provides an arresting and unsettling experience. At the turn of 50, Peter (Hugh Jackman) is coming into everything he could ever want — love, wealth and power. So it seems like a colossal inconvenience when his son from a previous marriage starts having serious behavioral and emotional problems and his mom (Laura Dern) can’t handle him anymore. Next thing he knows, Peter’s idyll with his new wife (Vanessa Kirby) is interrupted when his teenage son comes to live with them. The actors do good work. Laura Dern, never better than when she’s at her wit’s end, is in that state throughout the movie. Kirby is a study in internalized conflict, and Jackman is brilliant as a man of action who has no idea what he’s doing. Also, take time to appreciate Anthony Hopkins, who is an evil delight in his one scene as Peter’s father.—San Francisco Chronicle