Pretty much every film I’ve reviewed on this blog, I’ve done so having watched it once, in the last couple of days but not on the day I watch it. This is usually enough for me to reflect and honestly, I don’t have the time or money to watch a film twice. More often than not, I am fairly prepared to write about it if I consider myself to have something to say, while if I have little other than “it was alright” or “it wasn’t alright” I don’t write, but even so I know I won’t write. I found myself rather in a state of confusion and unpreparedness when writing this review, for in my opinion there are two distinct parts you look at. The lateral part of working out what is real and the emotional core. While it is possible to see both at once, depending on how you are on the day, you may only focus on one. When watching the father, I was in a lateral mindset, trying to work out what was happening in the film. What was real and what was the imagination? Now I have a better idea, I imagine a second watch will be even better as I can focus more on the emotional core now I know the answers. However, I will troop through this review to give my thoughts and feelings.

Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) is an elderly man with Alzheimer’s. He has trouble remembering everything and his daughter Anne (Olivia Coleman) is looking for someone to help care for him while he is in his flat. It all seems fairly jolly and normal before you go spiralling and see how bad Anthony’s mind is. You struggle to put things together in confusion. What is real? What is fake? Who can you trust? Well, simply nobody as what they say may not even have been said by them. It’s heavy and exhausting.

The main thing to complement is the film’s two stars. Anthony Hopkins brings a mix of showmanship and monologues with scenes of emotional integrity, anger, confusion and vulnerability. His Oscar win for this role is well deserved, with one scene in particular (those who have seen the film will know which one) sticking out. Olivia Coleman plays off this brilliantly, brining a real humanity to the role. She represents the audience from an emotional point. While you feel Anthony’s confusion, it’s his daughter who shows the impacts of this confusion of which he is not aware. The other four actors in the film were all strong as well.

The set is wonderful as well. Most of the film is set in a flat, which you start to map in your head, similarly to the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, yet behind each door or each wall is a mystery that you want to know, but also don’t want to know. You can map this place out, yet the subtle changes that happen throughout the film make this once common place strange and unnerving.

The whole film is written brilliantly as well. The screenplay is so smart and focussed. The changing of actors playing the same characters adds to the confusion, paying off fantastically. Every line has a purpose it’s an action or a reaction. Anthony is straight talking so we have no fluff. There were plenty of smart themes and symbols, the most obvious being Anthony’s constantly lost watch showing his inability to track time or the order of events. Director Florian Zeller remembers what is said when and uses it to great effect later on meaning you have to pay attention to each line.

I guess therein lied my main problem with the film. The amount of focus you pay to the script and the story makes it tougher to naturally be rewarded by the emotional performances. As I say, maybe a second watch will allow that greater connection, but for a one time viewing it is tougher to form that bond (moving from sympathy to a full connection) with everything happening, apart from during that one scene where you really can.

Summary

Certainly a film which needed multiple watches (Much like Hopkins’ character), The Father is brilliantly designed, written and acted. It’s a great, emotional movie to watch, however the amount of focus needed on both the story and characters makes it difficult to fully appreciate both at once. [Grade: B+]