Once in a blue moon, we come across a movie that stirs our soul in ways beyond our understanding. The Father is one such gem. The way it weaves emotional attachment with old age and the infirmities it accompanies is extremely touching. It leaves the audience in tears and emotional appeals to them as they can imagine themselves as a part of the story.
The movie was released in 2021 under the supervision of the celebrated French director Florian Zeller who made the movie into an unforgettable masterpiece.
Plot
The movie revolves around an 80-year-old man, Anthony, who simply refuses to leave the flat where he’s been living for years. His daughter, Anne, decides to leave as she decides to give her life another beginning in Paris with Paul. She’s apprehensive about his father, who’s been showing signs of dementia lately. On some days, he’s perfectly fine; on the others, he simply doesn’t fit in and doubts everything that’s around him. He’s slowly losing track of what’s real.
The heartbreaking tale of his memory giving in to the disease is bound to stir the audience emotionally. His struggles and sufferings only increase with time, but he stays keen on the fact that he can take care of himself and doesn’t need a nurse.
Soon enough, Anthony starts becoming distrustful of his own daughter and starts being skeptical about everything. He doesn’t recognize his flat anymore. He talks about his second daughter’s whereabouts and discusses how he saw a man he had never seen before in his house, claiming that he lived there. He is slowly losing himself. Anne can’t help but worry for him.
Stream it or Skip it?
The movie perfectly fits in the “STREAM IT” bracket. With a rating of 98% on Rotten tomatoes and 8.3 on IMDb, the movie has made a unique stature for itself in the film industry. Moving away from the factual details regarding its feedback, the Father is a difficult watch if we go by viewer experience. It would get you rolling with huge waves of emotional upheavals while all you’re doing is simply sitting in front of the screen.
It has that kind of capacity to impact. It’s indeed heartbreaking, and maybe that is exactly what makes it worth a watch. The movie has simply aced all areas of testimony, be it direction, production, or the emotional appeal every great movie is expected to have. With all the hallucinations Anthony goes through and all his puzzling states of mind, the movie still manages to fit all the pieces perfectly in the frame.
No matter how exquisite the movie is, it definitely isn’t an easy watch. Every moment fills the viewer with grief; every twitch in Anthony’s behavior makes the audience get involved deeper in the film.
Conclusion
The father is a movie that falls in the ‘must watch’ category. The Oscar award-winning actress playing Anne, Olivia Colman, perfectly portrays every emotion, making it all seem more real than ever. On the other hand, Anthony Hopkins, playing Anthony, leaves no stone unturned while portraying himself as a patient of dementia and proves that there couldn’t have been a better fit for the role.
The Father is a brilliant movie, blending sadness, fear, and helplessness beautifully with an empathetic emotional appeal that together enthralls the viewers as they get overwhelmed while delving deeper into the experience.
