The planned big emotional finish at this year’s Oscars was completely scuppered when Anthony Hopkins beat Chadwick Boseman to the Best Actor gong. We can now finally see the film that he won for, The Father.
He plays Anthony, a man living in denial about his worsening dementia and resisting the efforts of help by his daughter Anne. Director Florian Zeller had adapted his own stage play with noted writer Christopher Hampton and the only real criticism I can make is that it feels very stagey.
I have fortunately not had any close friends or relatives suffering from the terrible disease but Hopkins’ performance, despite my reservations about the stagey quality, feels very realistic. On top of that, Zeller has different actors play the same characters at various points throughout the film that is also structured in such a way that we appear to be seeing slightly different versions of the same scene multiple times. The sense of disorientation caused by those devices puts the viewer in Anthony’s shoes in a small but clever way.
Sterling support is given by Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss and Rufus Sewell in this intricately plotted and thought provoking drama.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10