Review of The Father (2020) by Moviemitch96 — 17 Apr 2021

In this subtle yet tender and heartfelt drama, Anthony Hopkins stars as a man suffering from dementia as his daughter (Olivia Colman) and several others around him try to help him in the face of his stubbornness and unwillingness to accept his state.

In addition, his mind and sense of reality begin to deteriorate as his memories and ability to identify those around him start to fade away. First off, this film does an incredible job of immersing us in Anthony's state of mind and helping us understand his pov.

Several other random and unfamiliar characters pop in and out throughout the film, and their true names and identities are never truly established, so like Anthony, even we, the audience, are also confused and never truly certain of what's going on around us or who these other characters are.

If this is the closest some of us can come to experiencing what it's like to suffer from dementia, then the film brilliantly succeeds at giving us a glimpse at what it must feel and be like, and it's rather quite heartbreaking to say the least.

Furthermore, Hopkins delivers the most deeply felt and personal-feeling performance of his career. His struggle was sincerely felt by me in every moment. Olivia Colman, who also never fails to impress, gives an equally sincere performance as Anthony's daughter Anne.

As far as the overall execution of the film goes, it was adapted for the screen and based off director Florian Zeller's French play 'Le Pere', and since much of the film takes place in an apartment flat, it's easy to see that it was originally meant to be a play.

However, this hardly detracts from the rest of the film, as the film's strengths easily outweigh this. Overall, the all-too-real feeling and experience of dementia this film portrays, coupled with a pair of tearjerking performances from Hopkins and Colman help this film shine, even if it does prove ultimately sad and difficult to get through, given the subject matter.