Son of Saul

Cinephile deep dive

The take

László Nemes directs. Mátyás Erdély behind the camera. László Melis scores. Matthieu Taponier cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Hungary. Dialogue in German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Yiddish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $1.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 2Released 11 years ago.
• 3Dialogue crosses 8 languages: German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Yiddish.
• 4Directed by László Nemes, shot by Mátyás Erdély. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by László Melis. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Matthieu Taponier shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Géza Röhrig and Levente Molnár and Urs Rechn carry the top of the cast.
• 8IMDB entry: tt3808342 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Mátyás Erdély

Original score

László Melis

Editing

Matthieu Taponier

Production design

László Rajk

Costume design

Edit Szűcs

Makeup / hair

Mariann Molnár

Sound

Tamás Zányi

Runtime

107 min · 1h 47m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$1,000,000

Box office

$1,777,043

Return

178% of budget

Original language

HU

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Son of Saul (2015) ↗

Also by

László Nemes

• 
  With a Little Patience

  2007 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Orphan

  2025 · ★ 6.2
• 
  Sunset

  2018 · ★ 5.9
• 
  The Gentleman Takes His Leave

  2010 · ★ 5.0
• 
  Moulin

  2026

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Official Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Reno2016-05-04
  ★ 7/10

  Experiencing what Saul's seeing, hearing and undertaking. The World War II is the largest source supplier for the war movies. I have seen numerous breathtaking braverism, as well as heartbreakingly suffering film characters which are based on the real and sometimes fiction. The genre too differs, from action, adventure, war to the comedy, romance, drama et cetera. Since the Academy Awards nominee announcement in the January I had an eye on this, but now it had won the Oscars that draw my interest even more on this. Anyway, finally saw this, so let me tell you what I feel about it. It is no ones biopic, but inspired by a collection of testimonies of those who had made out alive from the Auschwitz. Like some of the WWII films, it is very unique, that focused on a particular event and a person. Saul is one of the prisoners in the Nazi held concentration camp who is a slave-labour. His job is to clean the place after prisoners were executed. One day he finds a young boy who was executed and soon he takes the responsibility to give him a proper burial. Risking his own life and others, he begins to find a rabbi to perform the last rites. So what happens later and how it ends is the remaining film. It is not only enthralling story, but was very clever and unique filmmaking. In this whole film you will see one face at all the time in different angles and mostly they're close shots. Yes, Saul is everywhere, the camera never takes off its lens out of him. We would experience what he sees, listening and undertaking, more like in the real time. Just like a computer game where everything is from our (player's) angle, but here it is us again barely through the Saul's perspective. (Something like the upcoming Hollywood film 'Hardcore Henry' trailer I saw.) Although, the movies are not the games, like I felt weird during watching 'Need for Speed', when Aaron Paul was at my place. And a movie always needs a character that can take us to the journey through the time and space where it sets, otherwise it will be called a documentary film. The aspect ratio was like the older day films which is narrow that takes time for us to get used to it, yet it is a colour film. More like the entire story is taking place within the 48 hours. Interesting pace and developments, and a decent conclusion. I think it deserved all the praise and prizes given to it. "You have forsaken the living for the dead." I know the seriousness of the film and its contents, but I could not avoid the laugh at the end scene. I did not want to, but I did it without my self-awareness after seeing the Saul's face. I hope, there are others too, like me in that situation. Yet the storyline was very strong, like how far would a man can go knowing the life is meaningless after what he's going through. That makes him to take a solo mission when others are struggling and working together for their freedom. Since I don't know any language that spoken in the movie, I had no problem too to follow the movie. The 1944 settings were so realistic, I think everyone's hard-work was this film's result. All the performances were excellent, especially who played the Saul's role. That is the face no one is going to forget who had watched this film. However the real hero of the film was not the actors or the writers and the director, but the cameraman. Like I said earlier, he had done a brilliant job. If anyone wants to praise this film, he/she must begin with him. The cinematography award at the Oscars might have went to 'The Revenant', but the cameraman award is none other than this guy who shot this film. I really liked this film, but not overly sympathised or enjoyed. Usually if any movie that's based on the real gets my favour, even the movie has been low quality with more than ignorable flaws. Because telling the truth to the world is what I consider is foremost important than trying to get benefit out of it. But when it's not factual, I expect whatever the cinematical options can make it a better product. This film comes between them both, but leans mostly on the truth about the World War II prison camp. An insight of what the prisoners have went through. Painful to watch a movie like this, at a time I appreciate the filmmakers for giving this film and let the younger generation know a tiny dot of the incident of the WWII. To watch this film, no one needs a reason. It is automatically a must see, but after watching it, whether you liked it or not is an individual opinion. 7/10

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2025-01-27
  ★ 7/10

  It's maybe appropriate that I watched this on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp. It follow the story of the Hungarian Jew "Saul" (Géza Rögrig) who is essentially a sort of prefect for the Nazis. His job is to usher the prisoners to their final shower, meal and thence to the gas chamber. Every now again they have to dispose of the ashes and disinfect the place, and it's a continuing process. Then he comes across the corpse of a young boy whom he reckons is his illegitimate son and determines to give him a decent burial. That's easier said than done as he must find a plot of ground, and a rabbi - and that's all whilst his fellow inmates either despise his perceived complicity with their captors or are more focused on arming themselves for a rebellion. What now ensues offers us a different take on the ghastly goings on inside this place of wholesale slaughter. The character of "Saul" like that of so many of his counterparts is living with the ever-present fear of death and the photography here takes us into the heart of this evil killing machine in a fashion that's potently graphic without being cinematically gruesome. The scenario is dark and muddy, grim and terrifying and yet this man becomes obsessed with inserting some sort of decency, of humanity, into this maelstrom of horror. There's a fine supporting cast that demonstrate well not just the claustrophobia of the camp, but the increasingly desperate attitudes in a place where dying free is infinitely preferable to what undoubtedly awaits them if they don't try to rise up. What's also quite interesting here is the portrayal of an hierarchy within the prisoners themselves. There's resentment of "Saul" but it's in a context of a lesser of two evils, and in the chaos of the denouement the sense of communality if not necessarily community is writ large by a director who knows how to let his pictures tell a story. It's not a pleasant watch, but it's an authentic looking one that rings true.

  Read full review ↓
• r96sk2025-04-16
  ★ 8/10

  <em>'Son of Saul'<em> is as upsetting and unimaginable as you would anticipate a film about the Holocaust would be. It is quite unique in terms of its story and how it's portrayed. It's interesting to learn about the Sonderkommandos, a term I somehow wasn't overly familiar with to be honest. Géza Röhrig is outstanding in the leading role, one that requires some big acting chops given the character doesn't speak too often. How crazy that he, so I read, hadn't acted in film for a few decades up until this. The only thing more surprising is that this is director László Nemes' directorial debut!

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Laokoon Filmgroup

  HU

Key crew

• ProducerGábor Rajna
• ProducerGábor Sipos
• EditorMatthieu Taponier
• Production DesignLászló Rajk
• Set DecorationDorka Kiss
• Set DecorationJudit Varga
• Costume DesignEdit Szűcs
• Script SupervisorOrsolya Vercz
• CastingBenjamin Freidenberg
• Camera OperatorZoltán Lovasi
• Camera OperatorGyörgy Réder
• First Assistant CameraGergely Csepregi
• Rigging GafferViktor Racsek
• Special Effects SupervisorBarnabás Princz
• Special Effects CoordinatorSzabolcs Princz
• FoleyTamás Beke
• Sound DesignerTamás Zányi
• Key Hair StylistMariann Molnár
• Makeup Department HeadErzsébet Forgács
• Production Sound MixerTamás Dévényi
• Production ManagerVeronika Nemes-Jeles
• Casting DirectorÉva Zabezsinszkij
• Executive ProducerJudit Stalter
• Line ProducerKrisztina Pintér

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• prisoner
• world war ii
• son
• auschwitz-birkenau concentration camp
• rabbi
• 1940s
• sonderkommando

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2015-09-04· Telluride Film Festival
• Premiere2015-10-06· New York Film Festival
• Premiere2015-10-09· Hamptons International Film Festival
• Premiere2015-10-22· Chicago International Film Festival
• Premiere2015-10-23· Middleburg Film Festival
• Premiere2015-11-08· St. Louis International Film Festival / Virginia Film Festival
• Premiere2015-11-09· AFI Fest / Denver International Film Festival
• Premiere2016-01-02· Palm Springs International Film Festival
• Theatrical2015-12-18R

Also known as

International titles

• El hijo de SaúlES
• Sauls sønnNO
• Filho de SaulBR
• O Filho de SaulBR
• 사울의 아들KR
• Sauls sonSE
• Le Fils de SaulFR