0
0
It can be heartbreaking to watch our parents age—to realize that the people who have been our strength and our support now need our strength and support. But the process is difficult from the other side, too—and The Father experiences a father’s decline from his perspective.
The Father stars Anthony Hopkins as Anthony, an aging Londoner who’s fighting to stay independent. His long-suffering daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), has been caring for him with help from a nurse, but Anthony keeps clashing with his nurses and throwing them out. So as he finds himself without a nurse—again—Anne finds herself with some difficult decisions to make. And as Anthony tries to convince everyone that he’s more than capable of staying in his own flat and caring for himself, he starts to question his own thoughts and memories.
Told from the perspective of the aging father whose world is becoming less and less intelligible, The Father is a jumble of scenes and stories that may or may not be accurate. Though Anthony insists that he will not leave his beloved flat, he ends up living in Anne’s—though he’s still adamant that it’s his own. At times, Anne is divorced and moving to Paris; at other times, she’s married to one of two different men named Paul. It’s extremely disorienting, and as you follow along through this mess of memories, you’ll understand Anthony’s growing frustration—because you’ll feel it, too.
Still, despite the constant confusion, the relationship between these two is truly moving. Poor Anne goes through such a wide range of emotions as she cares for her father: frustration, hurt, concern, but most of all love. She’s incredibly devoted to her father—no matter how difficult he may be or how much his outbursts and attacks can hurt her. That one thing is constant, through all of the versions of Anne in Anthony’s thoughts: she’s fiercely loyal. And Colman effortlessly portrays it all.
But at the heart of it all is Hopkins: his endearingly ornery character and his heartbreaking struggle with his own memories. He gives a powerfully moving performance—one that will leave you feeling shaken.
For anyone who’s watched a loved one age and struggle with memories, The Father is certainly an emotional experience. The constantly shifting, perplexing style of storytelling is absolutely maddening, but that’s the whole point. And a memorable performance by Hopkins pulls it all together.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
