It occurred to me to watch this film after hearing a review of it on Nightlife (ABC Local radio, Australia, 06/04/2021). The regular film reviewer, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, mentioned how it put you into the circumstances of the main character, an elderly man who is losing his mental proficiency. That aspect intrigued me, so I thought that I would see it and this cinematic technique prompts my headline of it being an 'old person simulator'.
Anthony Hopkins heads a strong cast as the elderly father of the title, Antony (that's how the cast pronounce the name). He is fiercely independent and resists the attempts of his daughter, Anne (played by Olivia Colman), to have someone look after him at his flat. Hopkins is so believable in his portrayal of a man in those circumstances that it would be quite easy to believe that one was watching a documentary on this topic. For that reason, he deserves to be in contention for Best Actor awards this year.
Despite its subject matter, The Father can be funny at times, either because of the occasional boyish charm of Antony or because of the dramatic irony of the things that he says. There was one striking moment for me though, when I caught a glimpse of Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, near the end of a sequence with Laura, a carer Anne had arranged to meet Antony for the first time that day. Antony was an engineer but up until that moment, amuses her with accounts of what he used to do. These seem like banter to me, rather than symptomatic of anything.
If it wasn't for the review on Nightlife, I might not have thought to wonder if the film was playing tricks with me, with regard to a sequence with Antony and a woman telling him that she is his daughter. Later in the film you do get noticeable instances of characters unexpectedly appearing and reappearing again in different form. This is all part of the 'old person simulator' that I speak of. It's engaging as a cinematic device, as I like how it afforded me the opportunity to reinterpret what I had seen before and to try and grasp reality with this knowledge. One way to characterise this cinematic device would be to say that it messes with your head. That is in no way is a negative for the film. Some things remain mysterious without being annoying, like the 'other' daughter that Antony constantly speaks about but whom we never see.
Despite the narrative device of an 'old person simulator' being used, I did find some moments more marked for perhaps inexplicable reasons. For example, there is one sequence where Antony overhears a conversation between Anne and her partner. This moment serves as bookends for a sequence. For some reason I found that bookended sequence more incongruous than anything else in the film.
In the same way that I enjoyed reinterpreting what I had seen earlier in the film and feeling that I could touch reality with it, I wonder whether Antony could too, at the end. There is dramatic irony in the closing sequence and if Antony does gain the insight that the viewer can, you might feel sure that it is only momentary.
Notes to self:
* Listening to the music at the start of the film, I felt that it would be a Michael Nyman composition (a frequent collaborator with director Peter Greenaway) but the opening credits proved me wrong. Later on there is some, I assume, classical music which predates Nyman's compositions, which makes me think that the influence is going the other way, as far as Nyman is concerned. In any case, it might be worth buying the soundtrack to this album, as it seems to include both original compositions and classical music repertoire.
* An initial query on my part as to the plausibility of the events of this film concerned the woman at the end of the film. I did wonder whether her patience with Antony was believable. Not long after that, I did wonder whether Anne's approach was believable too. In other words, it occurred to me that maybe this story of a daughter and her elderly father might be more believable in another context, for example, if set in France (the film is co-written as well as directed by Frenchman Florian Zeller, based on his earlier play). I'm not familiar with these scenarios in any case, so it might be easily plausible on both counts.
* There was one concerning scene between Antony and Anne's partner, where Antony ended up crying. I did wonder whether the incident actually occurred or not.
* Lastly, with regard to where the film ended up finishing, I am left to wonder whether what we saw from the start of the film actually occurs before then, as in the film being a sequence of temporal slices which actually happen and are witnessed by the viewer as they happen. If not, then that seems to me to make less incongruous that bookend scene where Antony overhears a conversation between Anne and her partner. However, it now does occur to me that maybe I am put in the position of Antony and one of his 'tests' for whether carers are thieves or not.
Anthony Hopkins heads a strong cast as the elderly father of the title, Antony (that's how the cast pronounce the name). He is fiercely independent and resists the attempts of his daughter, Anne (played by Olivia Colman), to have someone look after him at his flat. Hopkins is so believable in his portrayal of a man in those circumstances that it would be quite easy to believe that one was watching a documentary on this topic. For that reason, he deserves to be in contention for Best Actor awards this year.
Despite its subject matter, The Father can be funny at times, either because of the occasional boyish charm of Antony or because of the dramatic irony of the things that he says. There was one striking moment for me though, when I caught a glimpse of Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, near the end of a sequence with Laura, a carer Anne had arranged to meet Antony for the first time that day. Antony was an engineer but up until that moment, amuses her with accounts of what he used to do. These seem like banter to me, rather than symptomatic of anything.
If it wasn't for the review on Nightlife, I might not have thought to wonder if the film was playing tricks with me, with regard to a sequence with Antony and a woman telling him that she is his daughter. Later in the film you do get noticeable instances of characters unexpectedly appearing and reappearing again in different form. This is all part of the 'old person simulator' that I speak of. It's engaging as a cinematic device, as I like how it afforded me the opportunity to reinterpret what I had seen before and to try and grasp reality with this knowledge. One way to characterise this cinematic device would be to say that it messes with your head. That is in no way is a negative for the film. Some things remain mysterious without being annoying, like the 'other' daughter that Antony constantly speaks about but whom we never see.
Despite the narrative device of an 'old person simulator' being used, I did find some moments more marked for perhaps inexplicable reasons. For example, there is one sequence where Antony overhears a conversation between Anne and her partner. This moment serves as bookends for a sequence. For some reason I found that bookended sequence more incongruous than anything else in the film.
In the same way that I enjoyed reinterpreting what I had seen earlier in the film and feeling that I could touch reality with it, I wonder whether Antony could too, at the end. There is dramatic irony in the closing sequence and if Antony does gain the insight that the viewer can, you might feel sure that it is only momentary.
Notes to self:
* Listening to the music at the start of the film, I felt that it would be a Michael Nyman composition (a frequent collaborator with director Peter Greenaway) but the opening credits proved me wrong. Later on there is some, I assume, classical music which predates Nyman's compositions, which makes me think that the influence is going the other way, as far as Nyman is concerned. In any case, it might be worth buying the soundtrack to this album, as it seems to include both original compositions and classical music repertoire.
* An initial query on my part as to the plausibility of the events of this film concerned the woman at the end of the film. I did wonder whether her patience with Antony was believable. Not long after that, I did wonder whether Anne's approach was believable too. In other words, it occurred to me that maybe this story of a daughter and her elderly father might be more believable in another context, for example, if set in France (the film is co-written as well as directed by Frenchman Florian Zeller, based on his earlier play). I'm not familiar with these scenarios in any case, so it might be easily plausible on both counts.
* There was one concerning scene between Antony and Anne's partner, where Antony ended up crying. I did wonder whether the incident actually occurred or not.
* Lastly, with regard to where the film ended up finishing, I am left to wonder whether what we saw from the start of the film actually occurs before then, as in the film being a sequence of temporal slices which actually happen and are witnessed by the viewer as they happen. If not, then that seems to me to make less incongruous that bookend scene where Antony overhears a conversation between Anne and her partner. However, it now does occur to me that maybe I am put in the position of Antony and one of his 'tests' for whether carers are thieves or not.