[Review] The Father (9/10)

 

Title - The Father
Studio - Sony Pictures Classics, Films Du Cru, Film 4
Starring - Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams, Rufus Sewell
Writer - Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller
Director - Florian Zeller
Release - 26 February 2021

This was probably one of the last big Oscar movies that I'm catching up with. And on the road to this year's Oscar, I did not put serious consideration into Anthony Hopkins winning the category. And just halfway watching The Father, I got it. 

This was definitely one of Hopkins best in the last decade, at least. There were the quiet moments and then there were the powerful ones; not outbursts but many times just quietly powerful.

There was that one scene that just broke the screen was Hopkins saying nothing but held Olivia Colman's face in his palm. And then, to Colman's credit, on her way home, she got over it as she quietly convinced herself that it was the right thing to do. These were all through performances in their action, no dialogue.

There was also a great supporting cast that helped to tell the story. Mark Gatiss and Rufus Sewell played their parts great, that also helped us to paint a picture of a bad guy of the story.

Florian Zeller did a fantastic job in creating the imagery about the illness of Alzheimer. Through the way Hopkins saw people that he knew, we as the audience who had no idea, got a glimpse of living with someone with Alzheimer; and that alone was worth the ticket admission.