Worthy of his Oscar win, Anthony Hopkins turns out the best performance of his career, showing the full range of his emotions.
As someone who has dealt with a family member living with dementia, helping with their care for years, I always go into films that revolve around the subject very hesitantly, I did with 2014s Still Alice, and I did with The Father. A very hard-hitting subject that is difficult to portray and give it a genuine representation, it is even more difficult to appease the masses of people who have had this illness in their lives.
The Father see’s Anthony Hopkins (deserved Oscar winner for the role) as Anthony, an aging Welshman who must deal with his rapidly progressing dementia, as well as his family. Paranoid and confused, he accuses his daughter Anne (Olivia Coleman) of trying to scam him out of his money and his home. Is she, or is it all part of his dementia? Hopkins is mesmeric in the role, fluttering between playful and a sharp wickedness with flamboyant ease. I am not exaggerating when I say this is possibly his greatest performance in a career filled with great performances.
Directed by French director Florin Zeller – who also won best adapted screenplay at the Oscars along with Christopher Hampton – delivers a fantastically unique insight into this wicked illness. He places us in the shoes of the man, we see the world through his eyes, and it is harrowing and filled with great sadness. Confusing at times, which is a mark of success on Zeller’s part; the timeline discrepancies, and the way the characters switch between different actors adds to the illusion that accompanies the man’s illness. Anthony is a man who is desperately trying to cling on to his independence, his rationale, trying to explain to himself and others about what is happening, only for it to fall on deaf ears. It is a tragic watch at times. There was also some major controversy surrounding Hopkins Oscar win (Chadwick Boseman was the odds-on favourite), but you can’t really argue against him winning because Hopkins really is impeccable and devastatingly believable.
The Father begins with Anthony relaxing in his home, he is soon joined by his daughter Anne (Coleman) as they talk about the previous day’s exploits – Anthony dismissed his previous caregiver and accused her of stealing (our first experience of that paranoia sinking in). The dementia has made him incredibly forgetful, misplacing his “stolen” watch, and forgetting the fact that his daughter is going to Paris to be with a new man, which is of great surprise for Anthony. If Anthony carries on refusing to allow a caregiver – adamant he can look after himself – then Anne will have to put him in a nursing home. The next day is where the confusion begins, Anthony is met by Paul (Mark Gatiss) who tries his best to explain to Anthony that he is living with him and Anne in their own flat, much to Anthony’s annoyance. Anne then returns, played this time by Olivia Williams, which adds fuel to the already gigantic fire in Anthony’s head. It almost felt like Deja Vu at times; repeated dialogues, and scenes being replayed. I felt like I was losing the plot at times.
The next day, a new caregiver called Laura (Imogen Poots) is interviewed, as Anthony turns on the charm with the young girl, confessing he was a dancer back in his youth (another one of his fantasies), and that the girl looks like his other daughter Lucy, who he hasn’t spoken to for months, something he still wonders about. Anthony’s nasty side rises quickly as he berates Anne for trying to take his flat and his money from him, belittling her to the point of tears. It really is a cruel illness. As the film progresses, we learn that Anthony has been living in Paul (played by Rufus Sewell mostly from then on) and Anne’s flat in recent years, and that his daughter Lucy was in an accident to which he was unaware of. There was a genuine Groundhog Day moment at dinner, as the scene plays out and is then repeated to magnify that confusion setting in. As Anthony’s mind rapidly deteriorates, the scenes become hard to watch, with us and him becoming increasingly more frustrated. You can only feel sadness for this man who is quickly losing all his mental and physical psyches right before our eyes.
The journey that Anthony goes on from the beginning of the film to the end is truly heart-breaking. He transforms from a confident old man who is slightly forgetful to a shadow of himself, a man who weeps and calls for his “mummy”, scared to the bone about what is happening to him. A drastic fall from grace over an unknown time – it feels like days but is most likely months if not years. In all the confusion that comes from the illness, there are some lovely moments between him and his daughter, the smallest of gestures such as Anthony saying “thank you for all your help” is enough to break through the toughest of exteriors, but these moments are few and far between. I felt that The Father was an extremely effective film, a powerful film that showed a new aspect of dementia, something that is not usually explored. I couldn’t pick fault and I wouldn’t want to pick fault in a film – with a personal subject matter – that is all about subjectivity
The Father is available to watch in your local cinema and available to rent from certain VOD platforms.
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