“A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.” – IMDb
The Father (2020)
Starring
Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss
Directed by
Florian Zeller
Box Office:
$57,510,518 US
Review
I’m writing this review for The Father while my cheeks still have evidence of the tears that were shed due to this film. “But, Joanna- you cry at everything…”
Okay, I won’t deny that I am a person who (usually) isn’t afraid of feeling her emotions. However, I can also say that my feelings were justified this time as The Father is a heart-wrenching film! This may be especially true if you’ve had any real-life/firsthand experience with Dementia and/or Alzheimer’s Disease. For this reason, I would recommend that viewer discretion is advised.
Acting
I’m not sure if I really need to critique Sir Anthony Hopkins- I think he’s acting career speaks for himself. With this being said, I believe people underestimate how difficult it can be to portray someone going through physical/mental changes. Nothing is worse than having an opportunity to shed light on a perhaps uncomfortable topic, just to squander it. Unless the film is categorized as some form of comedy- which I usually find to be done in bad taste- you want to treat the subject with respect. And, to do it justice for those living with the condition or living through similar circumstances. I believe this film, and all of the actors involved, achieve this.
Olivia Colman- what can I say?
I haven fallen in love with her as an actress a handful of times. Most notably, I appreciated her performance as Ellie Miller in Broadchurch. I believe that she can pull off an emotionally-fueled scene like no other. There’s something about her eyes that always pulls at my heart strings and this role is no different.
Overall
There were a few points in the movie when we didn’t know if we were watching the scenes unfold from the viewpoint of the Father (Hopkins) or his daughter (Colman). What was real and what was a symptom of the disease? Are we as the viewers seeing what they want us to see? Or, are we to question the motives behind certain characters and the purpose of some scenes? Are we only second-guessing things because we know that dementia plays a factor? Is the fact that we are even questioning things part of the problem?
Long story short, I think that it’s a great film. It was done tastefully, and realistically. There was a moment when I wondered how much time was left but it wasn’t for the reason that it was dragging. I sometimes wonder how much time is left because a) I want to figure out if it will be a cliff-hanger ending, or b) I don’t want it to end yet. In this case, it was definitely the latter.
Related:
Jenny’s Wedding (2015) Movie Review