The Father
If Anthony Hopkins told me that he had a loved one that struggled with Alzheimer’s and Dementia, and that’s why he has now made two films- the other being 2005’s “Proof”- exploring the struggle of living with it, it would not surprise me. John Madden’s earlier film has been one of my favorites over the years because of the way it lays out the anxiety and turmoil Catherine, who’s been looking after her father while putting her life on hold, goes through. Fifteen years later, Florian Zeller’s film, based on his play, puts us in that same sense of anxiety and emotional turmoil, only this time, it’s through the eyes of Anthony, played by Hopkins in one of his greatest performances. Few films have so little action, but more tension, than “The Father” does.
In 2018, I started to notice my mother’s memory slipping. She would remember the past fairly well, but her short-term memory was broken. She would need to have things repeated, she would forget to take showers, or need help to do so, and one time, she was coming over to my wife and mine’s house, and got on the interstate to head up to Chattanooga by mistake. She made it back to her house, but it was concerning enough to try and get her tested, and the preliminary diagnosis was onset of Alzheimer’s. In 2019, she was no longer driving, but wanted to go places still, so I ended up in the role of caregiver. That’s a profound shift in dynamics for a mother and son, and my mom is someone who wants things done their way, so that can lead to yelling. Add to that the confusion, at times, that comes with memory issues and I don’t think I had a more stressful holiday season than the one I had in 2019-20. That’s for a different time, however; needless to say, I’m quite empathetic of Anne, Olivia Colman’s character in “The Father,” and how she’s struggling to take care of Anthony as she is trying to make a life for herself, while also making sure her father is taken care of in the best way possible. Oh I’ve been there, sister.
“Proof” makes a fascinating double bill with “The Father” people one looks the situation from the caregiver’s point-of-view, and one from the one who needs care. I hope I don’t have to go through what my mother or Anthony have to go through later in life, as much for my loved one’s sakes as for my own sake. Especially with what I experienced with my mother in late 2019-early 2020, Zeller and co-screenwriter Christopher Hampton show a keen, and painful, understanding of what it’s like to live with Dementia, to have that confusion of when it is and what is going on who is who sometimes. (Thankfully, my mother has not gotten to that point.) In the case of Anthony, we see him in his apartment, and the first scene has Anne having to come over to check on him because he has driven away a caregiver because he accused her of stealing his watch. Seeing Anne deal with Anthony, the methodical way she has to patiently try and reason with him, as well as keep him on point, I think that is the only scene from anyone else’s point-of-view than Anthony’s. Once she’s gone, once she’s tried to remind him of her moving to Paris to be with a man she’s met, we are nestled into Anthony’s life, and it is one filled with anxiety, as people seem to come in and just make themselves at home; she thinks a caregiver (Olivia Williams) is Anne when she was younger; and a caregiver comes in who looks like his other daughter (Imogen Poots). Even we’re not sure of what to make of it all, and that’s where Zeller succeeds- he has made the film fully immersed in the perspective of Anthony, all the while showing us the pain and difficulty that others feel, as well. This is one of the most compelling pieces of storytelling I’ve seen in a while, all leading to an ending that is just heartbreaking, because you realize it was probably the truth all along.
It’s easy to see how stories like “Proof” and “The Father” would work on the stage; they are very much actor’s narratives, giving them room to really flex their muscles while not really demanding much in the way of visual storytelling. The camera, and editing, and sound design, however, are all vital parts of how Zeller tells his story, because they all work towards the desired effect, which is showing us that Anthony’s frame of mind is broken. The way he sees his life, where he lives, and the people in them, all play to that, and Zeller’s choice of casting both Colman and Williams pays off beautifully because of how similar they look. When we first see Williams, we accept the idea that this might have been what Anne looked like when she was younger, but as she comes back, we see that it might be Anthony’s mind playing tricks on him, or him projecting something on her, and the performances by both actresses help us accepting everything, including the truth when it’s revealed. The film would not work without Hopkins, though; he brings such empathy and understanding to the character that, as frustrated as we get with him for the way he behaves, we still find our way to understanding why he is behaving as such. It’s a painful performance, and one that will be hard to forget.
