--- title: "Son of Saul" year: 2015 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/son-of-saul" fi1m_id: "son-of-saul" imdb_id: "tt3808342" tmdb_id: 336050 wikidata_id: "Q19816400" fi1m_score: 87 critics_score: 84 critics_reviews: 12 published: "2026-09-16" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:57.473140+00:00" region: "IN" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Son of Saul (2015) Directed by László Nemes · 1h 47m · War, Drama, Thriller ## Identity Son of Saul - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/son-of-saul - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** son-of-saul - **IMDb ID:** tt3808342 - **TMDB ID:** 336050 - **Wikidata ID:** Q19816400 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3808342/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/336050, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19816400 **Fi1m score: 87** · Critics 84 from 12 reviews *In a sentence:* We kept looking at one man’s face and wishing we could stop hearing what was around him > László Nemes’s *Son of Saul* is a harrowing drama we recommend with a warning: its closeness to one prisoner is exhausting. Géza Röhrig holds our attention even when the burial quest starts to repeat itself. ## Synopsis At Auschwitz, Sonderkommando prisoner Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig) becomes intent on burying a boy he believes is his son. The camp continues its work of extermination as he pursues the burial, leaving little room for any other concern. The story also includes Abraham (Levente Molnár) and Eli Biederman (Urs Rechn), while keeping Saul’s experience at its centre. He wants to carry out a funeral in a place organised to dispose of its victims. Around him, the camp’s work goes on, much of it heard rather than clearly seen. ## Review László Nemes keeps *Son of Saul* close to a man whose attention has narrowed to a single task: securing a burial for a boy he believes is his son. Saul Ausländer is a Sonderkommando prisoner at Auschwitz, and the extermination around him continues while he searches. This is a harrowing, exceptionally controlled film, and we recommend it with a warning about how little relief it allows. Its force comes from asking us to follow Saul without making his determination easy to understand. Géza Röhrig gives Saul a face that seems to have learnt not to respond. The performance is spare enough that we begin scrutinising it for any indication of what he can still register, while his concentration on the burial becomes increasingly troubling. He does not make Saul seem noble simply because he wants to bury the boy, a useful restraint in a story so open to sentimentality. Even with so much attention paid to it, the face remains difficult to read. Mátyás Erdély’s camera stays close, often leaving the surrounding atrocities indistinct in a shallow field of focus. The restricted view makes it hard to settle our bearings or see how the camp is laid out. The long handheld shots keep us beside Saul, with the blurred activity behind him demanding attention that the image will not satisfy. We were horrified by the violence we could hear while we were held on his impassive face. The narrow framing made us feel trapped without pretending that watching a film could tell us what imprisonment there was like. Sound does much of the work that other films would give to explicit images. Its overlapping layers make the violence feel horribly routine: it continues beyond whatever Saul happens to be doing or looking at. The music credited to László Melis leaves much less impression than the layered noise around Saul, a useful choice when a more insistent score might have told us how to respond. Looking away scarcely reduces the strain when the noise keeps reaching us from outside the frame. László Rajk’s production design gives the camp the appalling ordinariness of an industrial workplace. The blurred surroundings still suggest work continuing beyond the little of it we can see, and nothing feels arranged simply for our inspection. Matthieu Taponier’s editing lets the long takes run without giving us frequent changes of view to break the strain. The movement has the urgency of a thriller, but there is little pleasure in anticipating the next disturbance. Following Saul requires sustained attention to images that are deliberately difficult to examine. The screenplay by Clara Royer and László Nemes sometimes returns to Saul’s determination after we have understood it. Once the burial has absorbed his attention, another stretch of urgency does not always deepen our sense of the man. The closely following camera can become predictable, and a pause would occasionally tell us more. These passages are tiring in a less useful way than the rest of the film, briefly making us notice the technique when we ought to be watching Saul. The film does not suggest that Saul’s wish to bury the boy can make the surrounding atrocity comprehensible. Its suspense carries a risk familiar to war dramas: following a character so intently that the surrounding victims become scenery. Keeping those victims audible makes that danger harder to ignore, even when Saul’s task has absorbed our attention. See it when there is room to give it your whole attention, and do not plan on an easy conversation afterwards. *Fi1m score 87, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics strongly praise Son of Saul, with agreement centred on László Nemes’s restricted view of Auschwitz and the force of its sound and camerawork. The close attention to Saul’s face, shallow focus and long takes keep much of the horror beyond clear sight, while the soundtrack makes it inescapable. The reviews also value the refusal of sentimentality, and several single out the lead performance for holding attention within this narrow frame. The reservations concern what that immersion achieves beyond distress, and the central quest divides critics more than the technique. The AV Club finds the approach monotonous and the quest distracting; Slant Magazine argues that the sensory force comes at the expense of deeper engagement. Responses range from emphatic praise to Vulture’s mixed assessment, which admires the first-person technique but finds the protagonist too narrowly conceived and the ending damaging to the film as a whole. ## Straight answers **Is Son of Saul worth watching?** *Son of Saul* is worth watching for anyone prepared for a harrowing drama that allows almost no relief, and we scored it 87. Géza Röhrig holds a face that has learnt not to respond while the camp's violence is heard rather than shown. The burial quest repeats itself in stretches, and it asks for your whole attention. **How long is Son of Saul, and what is it rated?** *Son of Saul* runs 1h 47m. It is a war and drama film. **Where can I watch Son of Saul in India?** *Son of Saul* is not on any streaming or rental service in India at the moment. It is available in 24 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Son of Saul, and is it suitable for children?** *Son of Saul* is a UK 15 and is not suitable for children. Set among the Sonderkommando at Auschwitz, it keeps the killing mostly out of focus or off screen, but the layered sound makes the extermination constant and horribly routine. We found the strain exhausting, and the squeamish will not be spared by looking away. **How does Son of Saul compare to Come and See?** *Son of Saul* and [*Come and See*](https://film.one/film/come-and-see) both show war at punishing close quarters, with sound that makes looking away useless. Nemes stays fixed on one impassive man and leaves the surrounding atrocity blurred, while Klimov presses a boy's terror into open view. We recommend both; the earlier film is the more overwhelming, the later the more controlled. **What should I watch after Son of Saul?** After *Son of Saul*, try [*Come and See*](https://film.one/film/come-and-see) (1985, Fi1m 92): War seen at punishingly close quarters, with sound that makes looking away useless. Then [*Au revoir les enfants*](https://film.one/film/au-revoir-les-enfants) (1987, Fi1m 90): A school friendship gives wartime persecution an intimate, painfully vulnerable human scale; and [*The Shop on the High Street*](https://film.one/film/the-shop-on-main-street) (1965, Fi1m 90): Ordinary compromise becomes unbearable in a drama of persecution and wilful ignorance. ### Reviews we read (20) - **Radio Times**, Damon Wise (5/5): This stunningly original Hungarian drama proves there is room for another fiction film about the atrocities. The result is an intense, immersive experience that harrowingly but respectfully explores the personal and public horrors of the Holocaust. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-xix0l9/son-of-saul/) - **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (5/5): Nemes has made a staggering feature debut with an Auschwitz-set drama that’s numbing, provocative and impossible to unsee. The film thrusts the viewer into the heart of the argument about how to represent these events, harnessing cinema at its most powerful while staying close to one disturbed soul. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/son-of-saul) - **Empire**, Phil de Semlyen (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it a remarkable debut from László Nemes that bores straight into the soul and leaves the viewer shattered but richer. It highlights the lead performance and the way the protagonist's quest gains mythical status amid the camp's micro-detailed horrors. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/son-saul-review/) - **Evening Standard**, David Sexton (90/100, inferred): The critic describes it as a remarkable achievement that creates its own mode and is wholly immersive and crushing. It singles out the narrow, restricted focus on Saul's face and experience as key to its originality and impact. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/son-of-saul-film-review-a-harrowing-look-inside-auschwitz-a3236651.html) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (90/100, inferred): The critic hails Nemes’s debut as a stunning achievement for anyone, but especially a first-time director, comparing it to Elem Klimov’s Come and See for its intelligence, seriousness and audacity in dramatising the camps. The film reopens debate on the Holocaust’s cinematic representation through its close-up focus on Saul and its moral and aesthetic boldness. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/28/son-of-saul-review-auschwitz-holocaust) - **Little White Lies**, Craig Williams (4/4/4): Nemes uses a single blank face to convey the unspeakable, capturing the horrors of the traditional Holocaust movie through the impassivity of one man. At its core, the film is about the unwavering pursuit of a single act of decency in the face of overwhelming atrocity. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/son-of-saul) - **Screen Daily** (80/100, inferred): Nemes’s cogent, strikingly confident debut is harrowing but cinematically rewarding, representing a serious attempt to rethink the visual codes of depicting the atrocities of the Shoah. The film offers a rigorously desentimentalised representation of the camps as a brutal milieu. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/son-of-saul-review/5087433.article) - **The AV Club**, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (B): The review calls it an impressive debut and technically impressive thriller and vision of hell, with long energetic handheld takes and a close subjective camera. The central quest becomes something of a distraction and the approach feels monotonous. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/a-holocaust-thriller-marks-an-impressive-debut-at-canne-1798279632) - **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (3/4): The review praises the film's technical proficiency, long takes, and aesthetics that avoid direct graphic representation of horrors in favor of a sensorial approach. It criticizes the result as a simulation that simplifies reality and prioritizes visceral effect over deeper engagement. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/son-of-saul/) - **Vulture** (50/100, inferred): The film delivers a harrowing first-person perspective on the Holocaust through dense sound design, long takes, and innovative cinematography that emphasizes subjectivity. The critic faults the single-idea protagonist and especially the ending as a cheap literary trick that undermines the whole. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2016/01/movie-review-son-of-saul.html) - **Film Comment**, Jonathan Romney: The film conveys the Holocaust’s full horror by keeping atrocities out of focus in the background while centering on one man’s obsessive quest. It is neither melodramatic nor mundanely centered on redemption, focusing instead on what can and cannot be shown. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/son-of-saul-lazlo-nemes-pro/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan: The film offers an unprecedented immersive vision of Auschwitz as an industrial factory of death, following one man's monomaniacal quest amid the chaos. Its aesthetic restraint, long takes, shallow focus, and layered sound design create a harrowing, business-as-usual portrayal of horror. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-son-of-saul-review-20151218-column.html) - **Sight and Sound**, Philip Kemp: The critic praises Nemes’s bold, harrowing depiction of life without hope in a Nazi extermination camp, which finds new means to address the abominable. Much of the action happens off-screen, with the camera holding a close-up gaze on the protagonist while the soundtrack assaults the ears with cacophony. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-son-saul) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Boyd van Hoeij: The critic describes it as a searing, intense descent into hell that is powerfully assembled with striking visuals and sound design. It excels in its narrow focus on one man's story and visceral experience but does not fully sustain its fever-pitch intensity throughout the runtime. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/son-of-saul-review-795688/) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott: The film is a claustrophobic, narrow-framed immersion into Auschwitz through the eyes of a Sonderkommando prisoner obsessed with burying a boy he believes is his son. It functions as a suspenseful thriller and allegory that confronts the moral complexities of survival in the death camp. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/18/movies/review-son-of-saul-revisits-life-and-death-in-auschwitz.html) - **Variety**, Justin Chang: Nemes' debut is a grim, unyielding, and powerfully immersive Holocaust drama that sticks closely to one prisoner's single-minded mission for a proper burial. It delivers a masterful, existentially daring depiction through long handheld shots and sensory overload while maintaining moral ambiguity. [Read](https://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/son-of-saul-review-cannes-laszlo-nemes-1201495470/) - **/Film**, Russ Fischer (9.5/10): The critic calls it a significant achievement and incredibly powerful drama, praising the intimate, unflinching focus on one man's personal quest for redemption and proper burial amid the horrors of Auschwitz, avoiding clichés. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/539373/son-of-saul-review/) - **HeyUGuys**, Jo-Ann Titmarsh (90/100, inferred): The critic finds it a staggering and completely devastating depiction of the horror in Auschwitz, praising the immersive camera work, sound design, and Géza Röhrig's performance as it follows a Sonderkommando's quest to bury his son. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/son-of-saul-review/) - **Paste**, Tim Grierson (8.8): The critic praises the film's innovative, intimate approach to the Holocaust through a Sonderkommando's perspective, highlighting its technical achievements and immersive style. They single out the technical achievement and the way it immerses the viewer in the camp's ecosystem. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/son-of-sauli-2015-cannes-review) - **The Wrap**: The critic calls the film a tense, harsh, and superlative Holocaust drama that is one of the year’s most important masterpieces. They single out the extreme close-up cinematography focused on Saul’s detached face and the inventive compositional style that immerses viewers while reflecting his mental state. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/son-of-saul-review-hungarys-oscar-entry-is-a-tense-immersive-masterpiece/) ## Details - **Director:** László Nemes - **Director:** László Nemes - **Screenplay:** László Nemes, Clara Royer - **Cinematography:** Mátyás Erdély - **Editor:** Matthieu Taponier - **Music:** László Melis - **Production design:** László Rajk - **Costume design:** Edit Szűcs - **Producer:** Gábor Rajna, Gábor Sipos - **Cast:** Géza Röhrig as Saul Ausländer; Levente Molnár as Abraham; Urs Rechn as Eli Biederman; Todd Charmont as Bearded Prisoner; Jerzy Walczak as Rabbi Frankel; Balázs Farkas as Saul's Son; Gergö Farkas as Saul's Son; Sándor Zsótér as Dr. Miklós Nyiszli - **Runtime:** 1h 47m - **First release (France):** 15 May 2015 - **Genres:** War, Drama, Thriller - **Budget:** $1 million - **Box office:** $2 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSabBa9IWYs ## Where to watch in India Not streaming, renting or buying in India at the last check. Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 2016: Best International Feature Film (won) - International Submission to the Academy Awards 2016: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated) - Meeting Point Europe Award 2016: Meeting Point Europe Award (won) - FIPRESCI Prize of the Festival de Cannes 2015: FIPRESCI Prize of the Festival de Cannes (won) ## If you liked this - *Come and See* (1985), Fi1m 92: War seen at punishingly close quarters, with sound that makes looking away useless. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/come-and-see.md) - *The Pawnbroker* (1964): A survivor’s daily life shows how atrocity persists long after physical escape. - *Au revoir les enfants* (1987), Fi1m 90: A school friendship gives wartime persecution an intimate, painfully vulnerable human scale. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/au-revoir-les-enfants.md) - *The Shop on the High Street* (1965), Fi1m 90: Ordinary compromise becomes unbearable in a drama of persecution and wilful ignorance. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-shop-on-main-street.md) - *The Zone of Interest* (2023), Fi1m 91: Domestic routines and sounds beyond the garden wall make extermination horribly ordinary. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-zone-of-interest.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/son-of-saul