Academy Award–winning writer-director Florian Zeller’s follow-up to The Father is bold, incisive, and harrowing. Revisiting its predecessor’s focus on fraught family dynamics, The Son plunges us into a world of troubled legacies, where people try their best in the face of crisis.

In an interview at TIFF, Jackman to the press “I haven’t done that before. I obviously saw ‘The Father,’ I heard that ‘The Son’ was gonna be made into a movie. So, I immediately read the play and knew in my gut that I had a compulsion to play the part,” Jackman said. “I think it appealed to me obviously as an actor but also as a father and a son. So I sent an email to Florian. I heard maybe there were some other actors being talked about so I said ‘Listen, if you’re already dancing with someone I’m not going to cut in on your dance, but if by any chance you haven’t I’d love to play the part, I’d love to talk to you about it.’”

Peter (Hugh Jackman) and Beth (Vanessa Kirby) are euphoric after the birth of their first child. Their little family is about to unexpectedly expand, however, with the arrival of Nicholas (Zen McGrath), Peter’s adolescent son from his previous marriage to Kate (Laura Dern). Nicholas suffers from severe depression, which manifests in uncontrollable tears, withdrawal from social activities, and worse. It has become too painful for Kate, who has run out of options and hopes that Nicholas’s interest in his new sibling will lift his spirits and prevent him from tumbling headlong back into despair.

“The Son” made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 7, and plays at TIFF on Sept. 12. Sony Pictures Classic will release the film in theaters on Nov. 11.