THE FATHER | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Florian Zeller (12A, 97 mins)
A heartbreaking and fractured journey through the unsettling twists and turns of memory and dementia, The Father boasts a brilliant performance from Anthony Hopkins – the patriarch of the title, and named Anthony here too, we find him batting off his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman), as she apparently tries to get him to move out of his flat. At first rascally and impatient, often formidable, Hopkins’ performance changes subtly as Christopher Hampton’s shifting script, adapted from director Florian Zeller’s play, pulls the rug from under us again and again.
Colman is duly replaced by Olivia Williams who now appears – to Anthony – to be Anne, who may or may not be moving to Paris. What starts out as a dramatic thriller, with Hopkins trying to work out what is going on, becomes far sadder. Colman’s plight as the daughter is also sensitively told: as usual, she is incredibly empathetic and watchable, mining small moments for all their worth as her relationship with her father ebbs, flows and disintegrates. Mark Gatiss, Rufus Sewell and Imogen Poots also appear playing various figures in Hopkins’ life, from carers to son-in laws and nurses.
Director Zeller marshals the cast well, reusing visual motifs with constantly changing references as the script loops and time in an addled mind proves desperately out of joint. The film can’t outstrip its stage origins entirely, but its claustrophobic setting adds weight to the ongoing narrative, with Hopkins unsure of where he is and why he is there before ending in haunting tragedy. It’s certainly not an upbeat watch, but for anyone who has experience of Alzheimer’s or dementia it’s both moving and understandable: not exactly feelgood, but how can it be? Zeller’s film is unafraid of showing the horrific effects, with moments of real poetry and discomfort.
Out now in cinemas and on digital platforms
words KEIRON SELF