The Father

In a word, suggestive. Suggestive in two ways, and it doesn't just get under the skin, but deep into each of your bones, and not just the big ones. For empathic reasons, a "must see" educational film, as the chances of this happening to you (either directly or within your family) are not small, but it’s also a great cinema experience. As much as it doesn't hide the intimate drama roots, the memento-like view of old age dementia "from the other side" is presented in a purely cinematic manner, with the editing in particular excelling in a way rarely seen. This is also true for all the cast, with Hopkins's performance of a lifetime leading the way. On paper, from an "intimate Oscar-winning film about a daughter's relationship with her demented father at the end of her life" one would expect a bittersweet sentimental film that plays on tear-jerking strings, not a frighteningly intense existential horror. (04/06/2022)

An incredibly fresh cinematic probe into the issue of old age and the slow decline of both the physical and primarily the psychological that is uniquely turned around and dissected in detail from the perspective of the patient, not the people around them, so we don’t get any corny tearful scenes or any other similar mining of emotions. Zeller goes about it in a sophisticated, at times almost detective-like manner, and the phenomenal performance of Anthony Hopkins doesn't give the viewer a chance to breathe. Within the genre, an unusual atypical film that is worth seeing, although it is not an easy watch. (04/25/2021)

The unbearable lightness of acting. I remember well Hopkins's exclusive interview with Reflex, where he said that "...acting is the easiest profession in the world...". So Sir Anthony cut yet another theatrical role, the likes of which he has portrayed hundreds of in his lifetime on stages, and he still won an Oscar for it, by the way. Yeah, acting is a beautiful profession, if you know how to do it. (05/07/2021)

A depressing look into almost all of our futures, this time without robots or an atomic holocaust. We don’t even get a chemical weapons attack or a pandemic, but I found this absolutely blood-chilling. Hopkins’ one-man-show about ageing sets off on an adventure journey that you really don’t want to go on. Full of surprises, confusion, a caustic feeling that everybody has turned against you and keep on hiding your wrist watch. Perfect dialogs, precise directing, beautifully sad music. (04/12/2021)

In response to the question “are you afraid of death?”, someone once told me “no, I'm afraid of dying”. This film reminded me of that. Brilliantly written and with a fantastic performance by Hopkins, The Father is a mosaic of the decay of human memory and the loss of awareness of place, time and self. Set in a few rooms with a handful of actors, this is distressing and sad film, as if it had been written by a man who went through it himself and came back. Why watch such a film? To remind ourselves of how good we have it. (03/12/2022)