The Father (2020): Losing One’s Mind

The Father is a must-see film if you love serious movies.  First and foremost, it’s an essential film for anyone who appreciates terrific acting; but as well, it’s a worthy, top-of-the-list entry for anyone who enjoys an intelligent, well-written, impeccably produced motion picture, the combined elements of which are perfectly suited to the subject matter. It is probably the most powerful domestic drama I’ve seen in the last year.

The Father  stars two of our greatest actors: Oscar winning Anthony Hopkins [Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Two Popes (2019)] opposite the Oscar winning Olivia Coleman [The Favourite (2018), The Crown (2016)]. Both are in top form, astonishing in fact. Hopkins gives possibly his most powerful performance, Coleman, one of her most affecting. And there’s a wonderful supporting ensemble consisting of Mark Gatiss [Sherlock (2010-2017)]; Rufus Sewell [Cold Comfort Farm (1995); The Man In the High Castle (2015-2019)]; Olivia Williams [An Education (2010), The Sixth Sense (1999)]; and Imogen Poots [28 Weeks Later (2007), Green Room (2015)]. 

Hopkins, who is 83, plays a man in his early eighties, in denial about his encroaching dementia. The age thing is obviously not a stretch, but whereas the actor is sharp as a tack, his character – also named Anthony (pronounced, for some reason, as Antony) - finds himself struggling to remember stuff and, more troubling, to sort out what is real and what’s not. Anthony is a widower who has lived on his own for some time, proud of his self-sufficiency, comfortable in his cozy, well-appointed flat, a man who is, or at least until his recent slide was, assuredly intelligent, cultured, witty, rascally, and confident as a lord in his manor. Recognizing the creeping mental diminishment of age and Alzheimer’s, much less coming to grips with it, has got to be a painful struggle for anyone - all the more so for an imperious character like Anthony.

Anthony seems always to have been a rather difficult and domineering parent to his adult forty-something daughter, Anne (Coleman). By the time The Father  opens, things with Dad have come to the point where steps need to be taken. But is Anne strong enough to take those steps, to go from being the child to being, essentially, the parent? Even she is not certain.  It breaks her heart to see Dad like this; in fact, she is grief-stricken. At the same time, she feels guilty, although it’s not her fault.  But he has always been difficult, and she’s got her own life to live.  She doesn’t want a confrontation nor to break his spirit but to reason with him, to cajole him into accepting in-home assistance, to allow him to exist much as before, at least for a time. But he’s an obdurate old man, and he’s not having it. He’s upset that she’s trying to control him. She’s upset because he is resisting.

This is an age-old story, of course. But The Father relates this struggle with a fascinating twist in its frame of reference: the story is not told from a neutral, objective point of view, nor from Anne’s subjective yet rational perspective. Instead, much of the narrative spools out as experienced through the increasingly unreliable mind of Anthony, which is to say as a jumble. For much of the way, we feel as confused as he is. It is like a mystery story, a little disorienting but fascinating. People enter the picture almost like spooks. Sometimes Anne is not Olivia Coleman. Sometimes the apartment looks different. Anthony asks himself, in essence, 'Is this not my beautiful house? How did I get here?' Sometimes, Anne has a husband, sometimes not. And which man is that in the living room?  Is it Mark Gattis? No, it’s Rufus Sewell. Wait, is he real? Things are not the same as they ever were. We, like Anthony, are searching for clues. Adding to the confusion, time seems to have lost its tether, too. That attractive young woman who Anne introduced as a new caretaker. Was that today? Yesterday? Last month? Is she coming back?  Speaking of which, where’s my watch? Someone must have stolen it!

It’s lonely and disconcerting inside Anthony’s head. But for us it’s a fascinating, engaging ride. Presenting the experience through the prism of Anthony’s mind is not only an intriguing way to tell the story it is, simply put, a brilliant premise. It allows our hearts to be touched and our empathy engaged by Anthony’s confusion and pain, and by Anne’s anguish and sorrow; even as we also are oddly beguiled by the mystery, trying to piece together just what exactly is really going on.   It is brilliant because it works so beautifully.  If you’ve had a loved one or a close friend afflicted with dementia, you’ve probably wondered what it must be like to be that person. The Father may be the closest we’ve gotten in a stage or film work to giving us a sense of that experience from the inside. 

It didn’t take very long for me to get the idea that The Father is adapted from a play. The dialogue, the structure - it is just so clever, and I mean that is a most admiring way.  And I was right:  The original version, Le Père, written by the French novelist and playwright Florian Zeller,  was a widely lauded stage drama that  won the 2014 Molière awards (French equivalent to the US Tony and British Olivier awards) for Best play, Best Actor and Best Actress. When it was translated into English as The Father by Academy Award winning playwright, screenwriter and translator Christopher Hampton [Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Atonement (2007)], it had highly successful runs in London and New York. The Guardian named it the best play of the year (2015). The London’s West End production won the lead actor, Kenneth Cranham, the Critic’s Circle Theater Award and the Laurence Olivier Award for best actor. The New York lead, Frank Langella, won the 2016 Tony Award in the same category.  

I wouldn’t bet against Anthony Hopkins when the Oscars roll around in April, either. Nor would I bet against Olivia Coleman. Both of these players are simply outstanding. 

The Father (the English language film version under review), was cowritten by Hampton and
Zellerand directed by Zeller (in his first work behind the camera). While I would have loved to see the play in a live theater, this movie packs a very theatrical wallop. It is It grabs you heart and soul much like the best live theater will do. Which is a rare achievement. 

1 hr 30 minutes

Grade: A

The Father opens March 12 in select theaters throughout the US [where open]; and streaming on demand beginning March 26, 2021.