Directed by Florian Zeller
Written by Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller based on Zeller’s play
Starring Olivia Colman, Anthony Hopkins, Imogen Poots
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hour and 37 minutes
In theaters Feb. 26

by Ian Hrabe, Staff Writer

As we learn more about Alzheimer’s and dementia, it makes sense that we will see more films try to tackle the utterly heartbreaking nature of those afflictions. There are few things crueler–at least in regards to something most of us will likely have to experience at some point–than someone you love losing their memory of you, and while there have been a handful of recent films that tackle this (Away From Her, Still Alice), The Father feels like the new gold standard for films about the ravages of memory loss. The trick is that Florian Zeller puts us in the head of someone losing their memories and the result is a film that is disorienting and brilliant.

It certainly helps matters that Zeller has two Oscar winners anchoring this film, and Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman will likely earn nods for their work here. Hopkins in particular is phenomenal as the titular father slowly losing his grip on reality. You forget how good Anthony Hopkins is until you see him in something and you’re just like, “damn, this guy can WORK.” For me that happened with last year’s The Two Popes, it happened with the first season of Westworld, and of course it happened in The Father. His ability to switch from congenial grandpa to bitter jerk on a dime here is magnificent. The high quality you expect from one of cinema’s elder statesmen.

Olivia Colman plays the father’s long suffering daughter Anne with whom he lives, and though her character largely plays the straight-woman to Hopkins, her performance keeps us grounded. It’s hard to think of someone right now better suited for a role like this. Though Colman won her statue for her brilliantly batty turn as Queen Anne in The Favourite, my favorite work of hers was her turn on the British cop drama Broadchurch. Her greatest attribute on that show is that she just seemed so utterly normal and natural. There is nothing flashy about her work, and that’s why she’s so believable as the emotionally exhausted vessel for her father’s constant confusion.

Though the acting here is going to get most of the attention, it is Florian Zeller’s directing that quietly steals the show. That this is Zeller’s directorial debut is insane because his work is absolutely flawless. His ability to constantly keep the audience off balance and make us feel as unstuck in time as Hopkin’s character by altering the set and using different actors to occasionally portray Anne and her husband is just incredible. You never know where you stand in this film, and yes a lot of that is due to the excellent script, but the way Zeller sets the tone is what makes this film a masterpiece.

The Father is the sort of film that is going to get nominated for a ton of awards but won’t likely won’t win any. It’s a prestige drama that does everything right, but ultimately feels too small to attract any serious attention once the voting starts. That said, 2020 was such a weird year for movies that there is a not insignificant chance it ends up on top considering that the none of the other Golden Globe contenders for Best Drama feel like runaway favorite. It honestly feels like a year where whoever runs the best awards season campaign is going to win and then we will all forget as all of us yearn to put 2020 in the rearview. Of course none of that matters. What matters is that The Father is an outstanding directorial debut featuring two world class performances that, despite being a big bummer allows you to fully empathize with someone suffering from a disease that is so hard to define and so difficult to understand.