Son and mother relationship at the beginning

I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but did anybody find the overall tone of conversations between the son and the mother at the start of the movie a bit "creepy"? If I saw these scenes without knowing they were son and mother, I would've thought they were lovers. Maybe this is a cultural difference between where I grew up (Japan/US) and Spain, but I would never, ever talk to my mom the way he does (i.e. him being overly serious and abundantly generous in reassuring her every-time she shows a bit of insecurities, him pleading to see her theater works and her workplace despite of her being coy (ewww), etc).

I don't know, if he was visiting her after a long time away from home (such as coming back home from his college year) and they miss each other so much, maaaaaybe I could understand him and her being like that somewhat (well, not really). I mean, if he's been living with his mother all his life, him being so suddenly and ardently curious about his mom's entire life just doesn't make any sense to me (surely he must've been to her workplace BEFORE???)

Could people personally relate to the overall tone of their relationship at the beginning? I couldn't.