Paris (AFP)

Actor, poet, painter, hero of "Lord of the Rings" ... And now director: actor Viggo Mortensen goes behind the camera with "Falling", visible when the theaters reopen, an intimate and controlled family drama about old age , the father-son relationship and death.

Light years away from the fantastic saga by which Mortensen definitely rose to fame, in Aragorn's skin, "Falling" is inspired by his personal experience: the Danish-American takes the stage, in the skin of a modern family man.

Baptized John, he brought up an adopted girl on the Californian coast, in a relationship with a man of Asian origin.

All that rejects his father, Willis - interpreted masterfully by Lance Henriksen - actor of blockbusters like "Terminator", or "Alien", where he plays most often the "bad guys".

The arrival in their home of this old conservative white farmer, gradually losing his mind and condemned by disease, will upset the balance of the house.

Throughout the film, through multiple flashbacks, the author and director will draw the sons of family resentments, sometimes born decades ago, when John's mother was kicked out after having cheated on her husband, where when Willis learned of his son's homosexuality.

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The contemporary scenes, which poignantly explore the relationship between this father and this son, now separated by a chasm, are among the most successful.

Directed by such prestigious filmmakers as David Cronenberg ("A history of violence"), Jane Campion ("Portrait of a woman") or Peter Farrelly ("Green book" in which he played the white driver of a black musician, on tour in the racist south of the United States), Mortensen began writing "Falling" after losing his mother.

The project, on the relationship "as fundamental as it is complex which binds a child to his parents", was not carried out until several years later.

The actor, three times Oscar nominee, says he did not think of playing one of the main roles.

But ultimately chose to do so, securing the necessary funding for the production.

© 2021 AFP