PALM SPRINGS, Calif.—Florian Zeller broke our hearts in 2020 with “The Father,” which placed us inside the mind of a man suffering from dementia. It featured a bravura performance from Anthony Hopkins, who justly took home an Oscar. Zeller appeared at the 34th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on Tuesday for a screening and conversation about “The Son,” his new film.

Russia’s Spetsnaz, or special task force, is a cohort of young soldiers who continuously train in preparation for taking on enemies of the state. They pay tribute to fallen comrades killed in past conflicts, sometimes under mysterious circumstances.

In his film “The Son,” Russian-born filmmaker Alexander Abaturov chooses to ignore the whys and the hows of the high-stakes