Nope, I thought Judas and the Black Messiah would be the last movie to tip into my awards calculations, but The Father has snuck under the March deadline, thanks to advance screenings; happy days! I will get to Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Raya and the Last Dragon though, all in good time, but the heavyweights of award season come first, and I’ve heard nothing but great things about The Father since before I even knew it was a thing, last year; I’ve been anticipating it highly.
The Father follows Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) as he tries to make sense of confusing occurrences around his apartment; think, like Jennifer Lawrence in Mother!, but with the eventual understanding that Anthony is suffering from dementia, and the audiences is experiencing his muddled circumstances just as confrontingly as he is. Scenes with his daughter, Anne (Olivia Coleman), clarify what’s really happening, as she, at her wits end, lovingly provides for her father, wanting to assume control of his lifestyle as little as possible. But it’s all getting too much; emotionally and practically, and thoughts turn to whether Anthony would be better off in a home. The Father is directed by Florian Zeller.
Between Still Alice and The Father, I think we are working towards a pretty touching filmatic guide to mentally deteriorating diseases – Still Alice sort’ve works towards the attitudes and management of early onset Alzheimer’s disease, where The Father looks to fill a deeply intimate gap between a loved one and someone who is moving beyond manageable care. This movie is so clever in its endeavour to convey dementia in a three-dimensional way, and watching it, you never know what is going to shift next. Scenes take place forwards and backwards, with a few moments that really share the fear that comes about when Anthony’s sure he knows something, or heard something, but is then told or revealed the opposite. Without having dementia, there’s no way to say if the movie’s details are an accurate approximation, and I have a quarrel with the movie for the fact that Anthony sees faces from his future in early scenes that go on to unsettle Anne (which is impossible, right?), but I still believe the machinations could feel the same – the lack of clarity in not recognising someone is key – regardless of which actress is filling in the face at that moment. The way the movie tells the story from both Anthony and Anne’s perspective, out of chronological order, could have been difficult to follow if not for careful planning, and further work to replicate how memories and experiences are colliding. The movie’s scenes fold back on each other like whipped cream, and there’s only one instance that sticks in my craw – when Anne returns home for the second time with the chicken, her boyfriend doesn’t take it to the kitchen and I don’t know why; maybe the movie has done it on purpose to make me think that I’m losing my marbles, but no, obviously it is done for a reason, and it ticks over like the movie’s beauty spot.
Anthony Hopkins; exemplary. The desire to embrace this role, at this age in life when he is already going to be remembered as one of the greats; it may sound stupid but I really respect him for that. When Anthony is not thoroughly confused, he is anything from tap-dancing to being quite rude. Olivia Coleman is really good too – I don’t want to undervalue her, because I remember I didn’t even consider her award-worthy for 2018’s The Favourite (I was wrapped up in Rachel Weisz, myself) and it was only after she won the Academy Award for Best Actress that I went back in my mind and realised I’d missed her. To me, Coleman is commendably dependable, and I guess the good child never gets the attention. I greatly appreciated the casually blunt dialogue Anthony throws towards Anne in the name of honesty, and how Anne takes it out of pity for her father’s condition. Anthony dismisses Anne while putting her younger sister ahead, and I felt the importance of the small moment that comes where father does thank his bighearted daughter for everything she does for him – I think if I were older, a slighted son or in the position of labour for my parents, I may have gravitated more towards Olivia Coleman and the subtleties in her character, who knows.
Take chances while the sun is shining – the movie really makes you appreciate your mind and your loved ones while you can, younger or older than you, that take care and look up to you; it’s all there in The Father, but then nurse Kathryn (Olivia Williams) elegantly puts it into words right at the end. I think I felt a delayed shock coming out of The Father; I wasn’t prepared to see this old man that I’d come to respect break down for his Mummy the way he did – I’m 30, and I love being around my ‘Mummy’; I don’t know if I’m glad or scared to learn that that feeling never goes away. Some movies don’t know where best to end their story, but for me The Father leaves us perfectly, with the emotionally impact of dementia resonating, as trees sway in the breeze.
The Father is an excellent movie – worth the wait.
4.5
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