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United Kingdom/France 2020
Directed by
Florian Zeller
97 minutes
Rated PG

Reviewed by
Bernard Hemingway
4 stars

The Father

Synopsis:  An octogenarian, Anthony (Anthony Hopkins),succumbs to dementia.

The Father wouldn’t have been an easy film to pitch. To most audiences its subject matter would seem either too far away or too close and anyway who wants to watch a group of unremarkable middle class, middle aged Londoners banging on about a chicken dinner. Thank God however the money was found and debut feature director Florian Zeller was able to bring us this compelling account of a debilitating disease that affects so many of us directly and indirectly.

Adapting his prize-winning,2012 French play of the same name with the help of Christopher Hampton (who adapted Francois Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuses for Stephen Frears in 1988) Zeller takes us into a mind progressively crumbling and the lives of those who have to shore up its remnants as best they can.

Starting off with the routine day-to-day life of an eighty-something Londoner enjoying the simple pleasures of his twilight  years - a cup of tea and some opera - as he awaits a visit from his adult daughter (Olivia Colman), at first all appears normal but gradually the growing confusion that is affecting Anthony becomes our experience as Zeller,breaking with a linear chronology of events, replays the same scenes with different actors or the same actors different names and so on. Gradually we understand that we are in Anthony’s mind and all we can do is observe our own incomprehension. It is a brilliant use of the medium and potentialities of film and the contributions of production designer Peter Francis and editor Yorgos Lamprinos, both Oscar-nominated, are also crucial in making Anthony’s decline both jarring and inevitable.

In the Oscar-winning lead role,one which no doubt will be the highpoint of his substantial career (I’ve never understood why so many drool over his Hannibal Lecter) the eighty-seven year old Anthony Hopkins is superb as he gives us a fully-rounded portrayal of his character's struggles to understand what is happening to him. Hopkins’ performance is at times unusually animated, especially when he tries to charm a potential carer (Imogen Poots) whom his daughter has organized for him. But flirtatious and indeed emotionally vulnerable as he can be Hopkins' Anthony is also irascible, accusatory and at times downright nasty.

As his daughter and primary carer Anne, Colman is equally as good (she was nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar) as she struggles to live her own life while dealing with such a difficult customer.  My only reservation is why selflessly devoted Anne would be married to Paul (Rufus Sewell) who seems to be in equal proportions smug and callous, qualities which appear to be of his character not Anthony’s perception of it.  Well, maybe that and the over-exposure of a chicken dinner.

Nothwithstanding, The Father is a film well worth seeing for the cleverness of its construction, its two fine lead performances and its empathetic insight into an illness over which we have so little control.

 

 

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