TEHRAN – A specialized session dedicated to examining the prominent French playwright Florian Zeller’s plays “The Father,” “The Mother,” and “The Son” will be held in Karaj by the Read With Us Cultural and Artistic Institute on Sunday. 

The program, focusing on themes such as memory decline, loneliness, and identity crisis, will include readings and critical discussions of Zeller’s acclaimed theatrical trilogy, in the presence of literary figures, IBNA reported.

The event is part of the series of specialized sessions titled “The Taste of Humanities,” organized by the Read With Us Institute.

Florian Zeller, 46, is a French playwright, novelist, theatre director, and filmmaker. He has written over a dozen plays that have been staged worldwide, making him one of the most celebrated contemporary playwrights.

Zeller directed and co-wrote the 2020 film adaptation of his play “The Father,” earning the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for his screenplay. Since then, it has been cited as one of the best films of the 2020s and the 21st century.

In 2023, Zeller was awarded France's Legion of Honour. In 2025, he joined the prestigious French literary society Académie Française.

“The Father” is about André, a once proud old man, who is showing the first signs of mental degeneration. His daughter Anne, who takes him in at her apartment where the play takes place, seeks only to help and protect him, but the progression of his illness becomes inexorable. Both angry and distraught, he gradually loses his mind and reverts to childhood under her clouded gaze.

Through stagecraft, the production draws the viewer into the twists and turns of a diseased mind: the actors' roles swap and become interchangeable, furniture changes from one scene to the next, and the dialogue repeats itself. The viewer is brought inside the father's head, hence the misunderstandings and the feeling of constantly being caught between truth and fiction, nightmare and reality. As the father decays, the setting expands and the space empties, leaving him with his solitude, his own nothingness, and his impending end.

“The Mother” tells the story of Anne, who loved the time when she prepared breakfast each morning for her two young children, Sara and Nichola. Years later, her children have grown up and have lives and loves of their own. Spending hours alone, Anne convinces herself that her husband is having an affair.

“The Son” is the final play in a trilogy. Nicolas is 17 years old and lives with his mother, Anne. His father, Pierre, has just had a child with his new girlfriend, Sofia. Anne informs Pierre that their son, a depressed teenager, has not been to school for three months. Pierre then talks with Nicolas, who asks to come and live with him and Sofia. Pierre accepts, changes his high school, and will do everything possible to restore his son's appetite for life.

In his plays, Zeller tackles the theme of lies and truth. He often tries to resolve the eternal dilemma within one’s family circle, which is believed to be most open and receptive in embracing the truth. However, it often transpires that one’s family tends to be subjected to lies and deception. In today’s world, people are inundated by fake news spread deliberately by social networks, allowing individuals to achieve political goals and gain social influence. The truth is becoming increasingly relative, not only in the metaphysical, Rashomon-like sense, but objectively too: facts are being falsified, and lies are being circulated.

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