I feel as if I'm losing all my leaves
Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 51 Films of 2021
#11 : The Father
Anthony Hopkins is superb playing a man with dementia in Florian Zeller’s unbearably heartbreaking film full of intelligent performances, disorienting time slips and powerful theatrical effects.
I've heard good things about this - and when was the last time Tony was terrible in anything? Well, before this, Transformers - The Dark Knight from 2017 seems to be a reasonable answer - I've not seen it, but I've heard it's utter, utter shit. But, the man won an Oscar for this film, so I'm guessing it was a slight improvement in quality - but let's see, shall we?
And well - if I had to pick some words, I'd say this is a film "full of intelligent performances, disorienting time slips and powerful theatrical effects" - I think that pretty much covers it. It basically follows our Tone as he doesn't really know who, where or when he is - and, as such, it's not exactly an easy film to follow (but, given the subject matter, you don't think it should be easy to follow). An unusual factor they use to confuse matters is that they change the set (sometimes subtly, sometimes not so much) which means that you're often on the back foot, but not always sure why. Coupled with the more obviously confusing business of shifting the actors playing the various characters around, you really are on the back foot - all of which contribute massively to the overall effect of the film.
So, what actually happens in the film? Well, errr - I'd say not much, but I'm not entirely sure if that's the case. Does that help? No?!? But, like First Cow, this is another film which is more about the journey than the destination and it's interesting that you have no idea how long the journey is - it could span a couple of days or a couple of years.
I'm not generally a fan of plays turned into films, but this both works very well but also lets you imagine that a good theatrical performance would also be a cracking watch (and I will be going to see it if it gets revived). Like The Humans, this is the directorial debut of the author the play, with Florian Zeller taking the reins here and he really does a fantastic job - and he and Christopher Hampton won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar (another thing it shares with The Humans is that it's set in a MASSIVE apartment). It's also got some cracking opera on the soundtrack, so much so I checked them out to see where they're from - I've obviously never listened to any of the tracks since though.
If you want some good acting, then some names you might call on would be Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Rufus Sewell, Olivia Willams, Mark Gatiss and Imogen Poots. So I think it's safe to say the film is in pretty good hands. But Tony most definitely deserved his Oscar - it's a fine performance and he delivers a cracking speech at the end which is extremely powerful. Olivia C, of course, matches him step for step and everybody else just about manages to keep up. Special mention also has to go to the chicken - it does a surprising amount of heavy lifting in the film.
Overall, this is a strong recommendation - it's a beautifully and interestingly presented tale with some fine acting. My one proviso is that you probably shouldn't watch this if you are caring for someone with dementia - I suspect it would all prove to be a bit too much (but obviously it's your call!). At the time of writing, it's available on Netflix or to rent at all the other usual locations - I think it's well worth your time.
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