Nominations: Academy Awards 2021

Very rarely do we find ourselves as confused as the protagonist of a movie. Usually the audience has the advantage of knowing the truth while witnessing the main character’s struggle. The Father, however, turns that perspective upside down and gives us the point of view of Anthony (brilliantly played by Anthony Hopkins), an older man who is suffering from dementia and is dealing with a progressing memory loss.

He learns that his daughter (played by Olivia Colman) is moving to Paris and gets very upset with the news. But is she really? She denies that a few scenes later, only to say, again, that she is.  If Anthony questions his daughter’s actions, so do we, as the audience is as confused as he is, which makes the movie way more interesting and appealing.

In order to make the audience experience Anthony’s confusion, director Florian Zeller cleverly switches the actors who are portraying the character’s daughter and son-in-law. Another tool used is the apartment, which is almost like a character in the film, given its importance. It changes a bit from scene to scene, so that Anthony (and the audience) keeps trying to guess if he is, indeed, in this own apartment. It’s easy to understand, then, why the production design department deservedly got a nomination.

Another well-deserved nomination is for adapted screenplay, since The Father is an adaptation of the play Le Père, written by Florian Zeller, who also co-wrote the movie with Christopher Hampton. The pacing is so good, and the acting is so absorbing that it doesn’t feel like a play. It is one of those rare examples of successful adaptations that don’t make the audience have the feeling they’re simply watching a filmed play.

The highlight, however, is Anthony Hopkins. The Father wouldn’t be as poignant without him. It is hard to think of any other actor who could have portrayed this character in such a layered and complete way as Hopkins did. He manages to go from anger to laugher to complete despair in a matter of seconds and the audience has no choice but to feel for him, as if he was a member of our own family. Olivia Colman, also nominated, does a great job reacting to Hopkins in a subtle and restrained manner, as a daughter would do, while trying to help her helpless aging father.

It may not be a blockbuster, but The Father has all of the potential to leave you thinking about it long after the movie is over.