Film Review - The Father (2021)

The Father stars Sir Anthony Hopkins as a Father to Ann (Olivia Coleman) who is living with severe dementia, on some days he’s charming and likeable and others he can’t remember where he is and it is putting great strain on Ann’s own life as she tries to move to Paris but is reluctant to do so without thinking her Dad will be looked after in his remaining time.

 

The Father was what I had expected from June Again a heavy drama about a serious illness and it is a tough watch and I am not someone who is squeamish in any way but this isn’t like an action/adventure film where we have a certain expectation that justice will prevail but here it is about a very real illness that affects even the best of us in this life and there isn’t a damn thing anyone a doctor or a family member can do about it apart from comfort them, give them medicine and wait for the disease to run its course and claim its victim and that is an awful thing.

 

Who isn’t awful in this movie is Sir Hopkins, he is fantastic and this role gives him a chance to really remind everyone how good of an actor he really is, he is charming/loveable/commanding in most scene and in one scene towards the end of the film heart breaking, I nearly cried in my cinema seat watching that scene and it’s a scene I probably won’t forget for a while longer.

 

Olivia Coleman is also very good here and she has the less showy role as Ann the daughter left behind to pick up the pieces but she shows the strain of someone who has to care for her father in his remaining time as he suffers a debilitating illness, Imogen Poots and Rufus Sewell are also pretty good here in small roles but this is very much a 2 hander between Coleman and Hopkins.

 

The film also a lot of very good editing which makes you think something is real when it most likely isn’t and something is fake when it is most likely real, Florian Zeller who co-wrote the script and directed the film does a good job directing the film but it is mainly looking as good as it is due to the editing work here.

 

And so that was the Father and it’s a heavy watch albeit well made but I won’t be going back to it again anytime soon, 3 out of 5.