User reviews

This is a film that stays with you. Of course there's the brilliant performances but there's more. While other films have taken on old age and dementia, those films took on coping with a significant other's condition. The difference here is that the film is from the sufferer's perspective. You therefore see these events as if you yourself have dementia. And it's stunning how, when you walk away, you know you can.

It's just so sad and also a bit terrifying. My wife works as a nurse in an alzheimer's ward, and she said this is the most realistic depiction of the disease she has ever seen. She also said in her opinion it should be required viewing for anyone that works with alzheimer's or dementia patients. What a movie!

This movie was shot in May 2019 just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic was recognized. The writer-director says he wrote this with Anthony Hopkins, who was 81, in mind. The movie has a number of well established actors but the story's impact depends on Hopkins and he achieves this as very few might be able to do.

Usually movies dealing with aging and dementia depict it from the points of view of all the others around, friends, family members, medical personnel. This does the opposite, it depicts it from the point of view of the afflicted person. As such I found myself totally confused after about 20 minutes but eventually understood why it had to be this way. We are seeing what Anthony (character's name) sees and experiences, the confusion as to where he is and his failure to recognize people he knows.

In many ways this is a hard movie to watch because we know people who have gone through dementia and its inevitable end, or know people who are in the early stages of it. For that reason my wife chose not to watch this movie.

For the subject matter it is a very good movie.

This is one of the hardest movie reviews I've ever had to write in my life.

Mainly because of the films subject matter, Dementia.

I've seen my own father succumb to this dreaded disease and it scares the hell out of my, worse than any horror movie I've watched.

I sadly remember some of the last words my own father spoke to me were, "Be a good boy at School today." I was 46 at the time.

The beauty of "The Father" is how Director, Florian Zeller, takes you into this descent of losing your grip on reality through the eyes of the marvellous veteran and Academy Award wining actor, Sir Anthony Hopkins.

At times his character Anthony is part Hannibal Lecter and at others a peaceful, but confused ageing Father to Olivia Colmans, Anne.

Another Academy Award winner who puts in a highly believable performance as his daughter who's trying to deal with helping a man who refuses to accept assistance from her or carers.

Fun Fact: Colman was named Anne is both roles she's been Oscar nominated for.

Also great supporting roles form Mark Gatiss, Olivia Williams, Imogen Poots and Rufus Sewell.

Overall "The Father" has been nominated for 6 Oscars, after already having over 20 wins in other awards and once you've seen this film you'll know why it deserves to win in Hollywood.

At 83, Hopkins, is the oldest winner of a Best Male Actor BAFTA and a dark horse to scoop up the big one.

This film feels like everything he has learnt in his craft is on display effortlessly for 97 minutes.

It's hard to believe this is Zellers' feature film directorial debut, because it's a masterclass in cinema adapted from his own acclaimed play "Le Pere" from 2012.

The role of Anthony was specifically written for Hopkins.

One of the things that got the living legend to agree to this film apart from the top shelf script (adapted by Christopher Hampton) was the inclusion of one of Hopkins favourite pieces of music from Georges Bizet Opera "The Pearl Fishers".

He's always dreamt of making a movie with this music in it.

With lines from Anthony like: "I feel as if I'm losing all my leaves" "The Father" is so close to perfect I'm giving it 10 stars.

Anthony refuses to accept any help from his daughter Anne, or any family members, Anthony's confusion increases, he's battling dementia.

A powerhouse performance from Anthony Hopkins, this film is outstanding in almost every avenue. It came as no surprise that Hopkins was chosen for the part, he delivers a stellar performance, you'll feel Anthony's frustrations, hurt, and now and then you'll chuckle with him.

If you know someone with, or have cared for someone that suffers with dementia, you will spot so many of the little signals and quirks here.

This film is so incredibly realised, when you see dementia sufferers on the big screen, you normally get the view point of the friend or loved one affected by it, here you see the effect from the sufferer's point of view.

There's a degree of originality about this film that sets it apart, it is without a doubt, one of the best films from the last two decades.

10/10.

Give Anthony Hopkins the Oscar on April 26. He gives you the best performance of the decade. An old man with dementia loses his ties to reality. His mind deteriorates, and reality stops making any sense. This movie will haunt you, especially if you have a relative with dementia. Such a heartbreaking movie. ABSOLUTELY the best movie of the year and the best performance of the year by Hopkins.

I'm a big fan of Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, so I was really looking forward to this one after it got rave reviews out of Sundance. This film is based on a stage play, and centers around a woman in a relationship who visits her aging father, who is beginning to show signs of dementia, in London due to concerns that he can no longer take care of herself. Narratively, it's not always as memorable as one would hope, but the strong performances and careful direction carry the film home at the end of the day and overall craft something certainly worth watching.

Anthony Hopkins is undoubtedly terrific here. He is able to convey both frailty yet genuine shock and empathy, while trying to better understand those around him that even he regularly connects with. Colman's performance is compassionate yet multi-layered, conveying clear emotional depth. The film's aesthetic is simple, modest and unpretentious, yet it manages to skillfully and quietly play a role within the film as a whole by adding to an atmosphere of confusion about what is real and what is not real due to Hopkins' character's dementia. The screenplay is generally well-written, but the dialogue is not quite as sharp or powerful as one would hope. Despite a fleeting running time, the film is leisurely paced, which is fine because it allows viewers the ability to take in the details of the characters' interpersonal relations. Yet while very moving in parts, the story doesn't quite build up to a true emotional crescendo that one would expect from a powerful, character-driven drama. That said, the acting combined with a thoughtful tone of generally subdued reverence makes the film very worthwhile viewing. 7.5/10

There is not much to say about the movie. We've watched an acting lesson from the master, Anthony Hopkins for 90 minutes and I was just speechless at the end with the contribution of the soundtrack from another master Ludovico Einaudi.

It was such a realistic drama reminding me my beloved grandfather that I've lost few years ago. It should definitely win the Oscar.

Great acting and engaging story but an absolutely class-based depiction of dementia as a challenge for individuals, families and health systems. This is a highly sanitised upper class private health care view of dementia care. Having lived through my grandfather and father-in-law dying of dementia and working as a GP in Australia in a disadvantaged community I can tell you the choices and options facing most families are much more acute and problematic than this. This is a well acted sanitised upper class view of dementia as a community anc health system problem.

I really wanted to see this film and deliberately didn't read any reviews or watch the trailers because of this. I think the plot is fairly simple and nothing is being given away with the synopsis of how it describes the characters demise into dementia.

As an explanation of the condition its great, but as a film it doesn't really work. It does a very good job of describing the descent of the main character, and gives a fairly vivid description of his confusion, despair and random behaviour, but this becomes quite tiresome and repetitive as the film progresses.

There just isn't enough of a story here, nothing of significance happens, and even when changes occur to the character or his circumstances, they happen within the disconnected framework of his condition which is a very low key, subtle affair.

There are no developments that take place to draw you into the story, the characters plight, or that of his family. The screenplay in general is very one dimensional and offers no real emotional investment in the film, other than pity of his condition to progress past this fairly slight and unrewarding concept.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure many people can identify with the film and even realise with so much more understanding how dementia affects people (especially loved ones) because of this film. It highlights the effects of the condition exceptionally well. I'm also sure older people watching this will probably have an unpleasant experience on what's possibly awaiting them in the short to medium term, but as a movie it still doesn't work, it isn't enough. It is more of a documentary, as a movie it simply doesn't deliver.

I'm struggling to give it a fair score for movie value whilst recognising the intent of the film makers may not have been specifically entertain per se, and I'm finding it quite difficult. What the film does, it does very well, but outside that it has little to offer, and I think as a result 5/10 is a fair score.

Anthony Hopkins easily the greatest actor of our times in his gut wrenching portrayal of a man suffering from Alzheimer's. Seamlessly expressing ranges of humanity from Hannibal the monster in The Silence of the Lambs to his latest nominated role in The Father as he slowly slides into the horror of this father as he loses his mind witnessed primarily through his caregiving daughter portrayed by the brilliant Olivia Colman. The sliding in and out of his past and present flows beautifully through the steady direction of writer/director Florian Zeller an acclaimed playwrite from France, breaks your heart, terrorizes you as you travel through his life's trauma giving way to his rage as it seethes through every expression from a long life survived as he's losing his grip on reality. Nominated for 4 Golden Globes.

And then you get Anthony Hopkins in THE FATHER. This is a devastatingly, heartbreakingly-brilliant performance and a great film. Hopkins' range is incredible. He goes from charming and funny to menacing to wholly lost in seconds. From man to child on a dime. It's a powerful rumination on a terrifying disease, bolstered by Sir Tony at his finest, a strong supporting turn from Olivia Colman, and an excellent script by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller (based on Zeller's play). It's a daring move to tell the story from the perspective of Hopkins' character as his mind increasingly deteriorates. A savvy one too, as the audience is forced to engage to truly understand what is real, who is who, and where precisely we are in our protagonist's gut-wrenching journey. This may be Hopkins best work, a late-career revelation that once again reminds us why he's one of our finest cinematic performers. Be warned. If you've ever been touched by the tragedy of dementia, this film could wreck you.

I am working with people struggle with all kinds of dementia 15 years. Watching this movie was like another hard day at my work. I am glad if someone decided created movie like The Father. I have hope more people will understanding have difficult but wonderful work we provided every day. Is hard for the patient, for staff and for families.

Thank You so much. Congratulation to Sir Anthony.

The Father couldn't be more realistic when talking about Alzheimer's disease. I've seen my grandfather walking that path. He was a smart man but once the dementia kicked in he was barely recognizable, which was a hard thing to witness when you knew him as the intellectual he was. The Father just nailed this subject, bringing back so many memories, memories we would rather forget but that you can't. Living with a loved one with this disease isn't easy at all, certainly not when that person sometimes doesn't remember who you are. I didn't knew Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for his role, but after watching this movie I can only say it's highly deserved. It's probably one of his better performances ever, and that at 83 years old. The Father isn't a movie that will give you a lot of joy, it's sad and scary but certainly worth watching. Nobody wants to have a loved one suffering from dementia, it's a nightmare to live with. I remember my grandfather starting to smoke a cigarette like it was a thing he always did and that whilst he stopped more than forty years ago. I remember him telling me he was going crazy after asking me the same question for the twentieth time in barely an hour. He knew it was all going downhill, he knew he was a burden to everybody, and that must hurt when you are still that little bit lucid to understand that. I watched several movies about dementia but this one is just the most realistic. It's sad but that's life, everybody should watch it so they can be prepared if the disease ever would hit a loved one.

After watching this movie, I had to see the reviews to see if others were as rocked as I was by it. They were. Breath-takingly good movie. I would have rated the movie a 7-8 due to great writing, acting, cast and story, but the last five minutes shot it to a 100 out of 10 due to Hopkins. Gut wrenching and wonderful.

Wow. This story is expertly crafted that I just don't know what is real and what isn't. Amazing acting too.

The devastating effects of Alzheimer's disease (although never mentioned by name) on an aged ex-engineer in London. There is no conventional story in "The Father", and that's as it should be. Director Florian Zeller, who also co-adapted his 2012 play "Le Père" with Christopher Hampton, gets inside the deteriorating mind of the central character with astonishing skill (although it takes about 15 minutes to get into the movie's rhythm). Anthony Hopkins gives an incredible performance; his confused, frustrated Anthony is delusional, forgetful, obsessed with time, unable to distinguish the past from the present, and prone to nostalgic bewilderment and angry fits of befuddlement. We, too, are lost in time as people Anthony is introduced to are either figments of his imagination or are substitutes for whomever is trying to communicate with him in the present. It's a moving journey through a trap-door existence, though the operatic pieces by composer Ludovico Einaudi are a tiny bit excruciating (less so if you admire the genre) and Zeller tends to overdose on weary-eyed closeups of Olivia Colman playing Anthony's conflicted daughter. Six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Hopkins as Best Actor. *** from ****

I haven't seen the play on which "The Father" is based, (or indeed the other two plays in Florian Zeller's trilogy on the family), but as cinematic adaptations go this is as good as it gets. Taking place almost entirely on a single set, this is an actor's piece of the highest order and its linchpin is a magnificent performance from Anthony Hopkins as "The Father" of the title, a man suffering from advanced dementia and perhaps, both in Hopkins's performance and Zeller's treatment of the subject, this will come to be seen as the definitive film on dementia as anyone with personal experience can testify.

Everything is seen through Hopkins' eyes. Olivia Coleman, (heartbreakingly good), is his daughter but there are other 'characters' who may or may not exist or rather, if they do exist, who are they or who does Hopkins perceive them to be? A man appears who says he's the daughter's husband but then the daughter has said she does not have a husband. Another woman comes in and says she's his daughter while another man appears and converses with Hopkins. Is he the husband? Is there a husband?

I've already said that this is an actor's piece of the first order but it is also a writer's piece with Zeller adapting his own play with Christopher Hampton. It may be mystifying initially for just as characters turn up to confuse us so the film follows no chronological timespans. Events keep repeating themselves if they happen at all until we come to realise we are simply inside Hopkins' dishevelled mind and for Hopkins I think I can safely say that this is a career- best performance. The Oscar givers may ignore it but acting like this deserves more than prizes; it deserves to be seen.

As a 77 year-old man, I found this film to be the most depressing, scariest film I've ever seen; rivals 1951's The Thing From Another world, when I ran out of the theatre.

Anthony Hopkins extraordinary acting notwithstanding, this is the darkest, harshest and most insensitive portrayal of dementia I've ever encountered. While I appreciate the unusual viewpoint and the attempt to convey the experience of the person with dementia, it is a very partial view at best.

Having lived with dementia in my own family as well as working with dementia patients professionally, this view is incredibly distorted. Most people who have actually cared for someone with dementia would not characterize it so darkly. There are beautiful, loving, and yes, many funny moments. Dementia is always changing with varying degrees of lucidity--which was not shown in the film. And while there may be despairing moments, dementia patients often feel quite jolly. In other words, they have a full range of feelings just like anyone.

But what really stung about this movie was the insensitivity and selfishness of everyone around him. Neither the daughter nor her boy friend had the slightest clue how to respond to someone with memory loss. Their insensitivity was painful. The carer was more on target, and the nurse at the end finally came through in a loving manner.

If the intent was an empathic portrayal of dementia, the result falls far short. The scenes where he was a bit jolly fell kind of flat against all the despair and darkness.

Dementia, which is a progressive malady, is increasingly and incredibly difficult. And yet, everyone I know, myself included, who has stuck it out with a loved one considers it one of the most rewarding experiences of their lives. Even if it does become necessary to put someone in a facility, it is so important for the loving family caregiver role to continue.

This movie could have been so much better if it had been better researched and consulted on by people with actual experience.