by Shane Conto, Staff Writer
Do you know anyone who has lived with dementia? I spent close to 20 years of my life living with grandparents who helped raise me. Unfortunately, this is an ailment that my grandmother dealt with for almost the last seven years of her life. It started with simple things like calling me four other names before figuring out my name (even calling me some of the names of family pets… which honestly put a smile on my face). Things would progress and she might lash out due to her frustration of not knowing what was going on or who she was. Seeing your loved one experience this is sad and painful… but only a tiny fraction of what they are feeling. Florian Zeller’s The Father made me feel like I was experiencing it with my grandmother.
Why is this film so emotionally resonant and impactful?
Zeller proves to be a master of creating an engrossing and moving environment that penetrates you deeply. We are walked into a flat in London where an older gentleman, played by Anthony Hopkins, lives and is visited by his daughter. We slowly feel what Hopkins’ character is experiencing as his daughter, Olivia Colman, breaks the news that she will be moving to Paris. But won’t she be abandoning him? The audience feels this pain as we are thrusted into the life and mind of this man. Zeller, along with the brilliant work of his editor and cinematographer, creates an environment that is surreal and maddingly real at the same time. The events happen in a way that feel so confusing and frustrating to process… we feel Hopkins’ pain.
What are we experiencing in this film at the hands of Zeller?
We feel like every scene we are slowly gaslit; what we believe to be real is not in fact real. The audience sees what Hopkins’ sees… but can we trust it? The camera walks us into a room and it feels like we walked into a different day and time. Ben Smithard, the Director of Photography, moves the camera in a way that feels so smooth and it makes it that much jarring when things are not what they seem. Every shot is perfectly framed for the audience as a new person just… appears in this flat. Who are they? They insist we have known them the whole time. Have we? This cannot be true! This person is not Hopkins’ daughter or son-in-law or care-giver but they insist that they are. Who is right? Are we being tricked? The sequences move so well together with such fluidity that they cannot possibly be real. Yorgos Lamprinos’ editing is fascinating and impactful in a way that makes this film work. We are fooled at every turn.
But in the end, do technical tricks deliver enough impact to make us feel this way?
Zeller lets his actors loose and they are the real key to the emotional impact of this film. Anthony. Hopkins. You can leave it at that. His prestige and talent can speak for themselves. But that would not do justice to this forceful and devastating performance. Hopkins swings big from immensely charming as he taps away with glee and flirts with his new care-giver, Imogen Poots, but at a pull of a curtain, flips on end. Rage and malice shoot from his lips as he tears people apart emotionally. The reactions of the rest of the cast only help reinforce the sudden shock of his turns. We are left in a pool of emotions at the end of the film that Hopkins is able to fill with his powerful performance. Colman stands tall with a vulnerability and a sadness that I myself have experienced. I have felt the welling emotion of seeing a loved one experience such confusion and betrayal. Hopkins and Colman deserve Oscars for this film. Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss, Rufus Sewell, and Poots bolster this film with strong supporting performances as well. Everyone is so committed that they make us believe their truths… but what is really the truth?
What else can be said about The Father?
Nothing much without spoiling the experience of this mysterious and emotional film. Not many films can balance this mystery and surrealism while also feeling so grounded in emotion. Who should we believe? What is real? Whose truth is reality? Go experience this one for yourself. It is a special one.
Grade: A+