The Father (2020) Directed by Florian Zeller
8A
Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), suffering from an ever advancing dementia, is cared for by his middle-aged daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) with whom he lives. Having developed a new relationship, she will be moving to Paris and leaving Anthony behind. Anthony tries to absorb this information as best he can.
The Father moves forward from there in a seemingly linear progression but not really. There have been some fine films on the subject of dementia (
Away from Her; Still Alice; Iris), but all of those films view dementia from the outside. Usually we view the victim from the perspective of the people who love him/her. What makes
The Father such an achievement is that this time we view reality from the victim's point of view. With director Florian Zeller adapting his own French play, the movie is carefully structured in such a way that the audience sees things from Anthony's perspective.This is accomplished through shifting set design, shifting characters and actors, and shifting situations that make us question what is happening for real and what isn't, just like Anthony is doing. Rather than a hard-to-follow muddle, the movie treats confusion with great clarity, a difficult trick, that. The aim isn't to create a story that is hard to follow, which
The Father most certainly isn't. The aim is to put the audience in Anthony's shoes and to experience reallity the way that a victim of demential might. Olivia Colman is a perfec Anne, who cares, worries, protects, but must ultimately decide whether she is to abandon. Hopkins is monumental, the best performance in a distinguished career in my book. The whole ensemble cast couldn't be better. A genuinely emotional experience,
The Father is must-see cinema.
Revised 2020 Best of Year List
1) Nomadland, Zhao, US
2) First Cow, Reichardt, US
3) 3) Small Axe: Lovers Rock, McQueen, UK
4) Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Hittman, US
5) The Father, Zeller, UK
6) Collective, Nanau, Romania
7)
Beginning, Kulumbegashvili, Georgia
8) Promising Young Woman, Fennell, US/UK
9) The Two of Us, Meneghetti, France
10) Babyteeth, Murphy, Australia
