London. Anne takes care of her father Anthony, suffering from dementia, but his state is becoming a burden for her. Anne's husband wants her to send Anthony to a retirement home. She hires a caregiver, Laura, but she reminds Anthony of Lucy, hism other daughter who died in an accident years ago. Eventually, Anthony wakes up in a retirement home, and the nurse, Catherine, informs him Anne moved away to Paris with her husband.
Florian Zeller's film adaptation of his own play is an untypical and more creative depiction of the state of dementia, by presenting it through the point of view of its protagonist Anthony (excellent performance by Anthony Hopkins). The movie starts out by revealing to the viewers only small bits and pieces of information: in the first sequence, Anthony talks to his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) about how he doesn't want to move out of his apartment, while in the second sequence Zeller deliberately startles the viewers by having Anthony stumble upon an unknown man in the apartment, who inroduces himself as Anne's husband Paul (a nice comical moment between them: "Do you know Anne?" - "I'm her husband." - "Since when?" - "Coming up for ten years." - "Ah yes, yes... Of course, yes, yes... Obviously" / "Aren't you separated?" - "Who, me and Anne? No." - "Are you sure?"), and then Anne shows up, but played by a different actress (Olivia Williams). In only this second sequence, Zeller managed to convey the feeling of confusion, disorientation and uncertainty of Anthony through constant change of context, until even the viewers are not sure anymore what is going on. Some of these "unreliable" mystery situations almost remind of Carpenter's horror "In the Mouth of Madness". Even Anne's husband changes from one person, Paul, to another, James; whereas even a painting by Anthony's second daughter suddenly "disappears" from the wall, while Anne's voice off screen tells him he is at her apartment, while the painting is at his apartment. Thanks to some comical dialogues ("Are you a nun?" - "No." - "Then why are you speaking to me as if I'm retarded?") and a restrained, calm and measured approach, Zeller crafted a surprisingly intelligent film far from the typical terminal illness clichés, thus avoiding the sentimental or melodramatic territory which these kind of films often fall into, except in the syrupy ending, the only weak part of "The Father".
Grade:+++
No comments:
Post a Comment