Review: The Father

Often with movies surrounding dementia, your sympathy is turned toward the family members. In Florian Zeller’s The Father, not only do you connect with the daughter trying her best to take care of her deteriorating parent, but there is an understanding of the confusion and suffering of the other party. 

Anne (Olivia Colman) is desperately trying to take care of her aging father, Anthony (Anthony Hopkins).  But as old age begins to play tricks on Anthony, he becomes erratic and sometimes violent with his words and actions. 

Caring for Anthony beings to wear Anne down; she’s struggling to hold onto her father while her marriage is starting to fail. After many attempts at finding someone to help care for her father, Anne decides the best course of action is to put her father into a care facility. 

Zeller adapted his stage play into the film brilliantly. What could have been a dull and cringe-worthy movie turned out to be a beautiful masterpiece. We are hurled into Anthony’s nightmare because of dementia in the first scene. 

What’s real? And what’s a hallucination? We don’t know, and neither does Anthony.

As the film goes on, the maze of Anthony’s mind becomes more twisted, and when you think you have found a way out, there’s another turn of events. 

Director Florian Zeller can achieve what so many movies of the same nature fail to do. He gives you an understanding of what the person suffering is going through. 

On top of a we-written script, the cast is incredible. Anthony Hopkins gives a devastating and vulnerable performance. He manages to tug at every single one of your emotions and leaves you in pieces by the end of the film. 

Olivia Colman’s performance is heartbreaking. As we watch her slowly start to lose her father because of his mind, you can’t help but feel her fear and sadness as the film goes on. 

The Father is devastating and will leave you in shambles. The direction keeps you invested, while the acting keeps you on the edge of your seat. My biggest critique is there is no sense of relief throughout the entire film, and it is something that is desperately needed. But it is a beautiful film that will make you look at old age differently.