The Father (2021)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.

Trailer:

Release date: 2/26/21

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Golden Globe nominations!

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

BEST ACTOR – DRAMA - Anthony Hopkins

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - Olivia Colman

BEST SCREENPLAY - Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award nominations!

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Anthony Hopkins

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Olivia Colman

Edited February 4, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award nominations!

Best Actor - Anthony Hopkins

Best Supporting Actress - Olivia Colman

Best Adapted Screenplay – Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller

Best Editing – Yorgos Lamprinos

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BAFTA nominations!

LEADING ACTOR
RIZ AHMED Sound of Metal
CHADWICK BOSEMAN Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
ADARSH GOURAV The White Tiger
ANTHONY HOPKINS The Father
MADS MIKKELSEN Another Round
TAHAR RAHIM The Mauritanian

BEST FILM
THE FATHER Philippe Carcassonne, Jean-Louis Livi, David Parfitt
THE MAURITANIAN TBC
NOMADLAND Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Ben Browning, Emerald Fennell, Ashley Fox, Josey McNamara
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Stuart Besser, Marc Platt

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
CALM WITH HORSES Nick Rowland, Daniel Emmerson, Joe Murtagh
THE DIG Simon Stone, Gabrielle Tana, Moira Buffini
THE FATHER Florian Zeller, Philippe Carcassone, Jean-Louis Livi, David Parfitt, Christopher Hampton
HIS HOUSE Remi Weekes, Martin Gentles, Edward Kings, Roy Lee
LIMBO Ben Sharrock, Irune Gurtubai, Angus Lamont
THE MAURITANIAN Kevin Macdonald, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, M.B. Traven
MOGUL MOWGLI Bassam Tariq, Riz Ahmed, Thomas Benski, Bennett McGhee
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Emerald Fennell, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Josey McNamara
ROCKS Sarah Gavron, Ameenah Ayub Allen, Faye Ward, Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson
SAINT MAUD Rose Glass, Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE DIG Moira Buffini
THE FATHER Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller
THE MAURITANIAN Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, M.B. Traven
NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao
THE WHITE TIGER Ramin Bahrani

Edited March 9, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Directors Guild of America nomination!

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director
Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix)
Fernando Frias de la Parra, I’m No Longer Here (Netflix)
Regina King, One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
Darius Marder, Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Florian Zeller, The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)

Edited March 10, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Cotypubby]

Am I the only person who has seen this one? I thought it was wonderful, Anthony Hopkins is just phenomenal. I would vote for him to win Best Actor though I’m sure he won’t. I found the structure of the film to be really intriguing and a very clever way to put you in the mind of someone with dementia.

[Milburn Stone]

9 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

Am I the only person who has seen this one? I thought it was wonderful, Anthony Hopkins is just phenomenal. I would vote for him to win Best Actor though I’m sure he won’t. I found the structure of the film to be really intriguing and a very clever way to put you in the mind of someone with dementia.

This movie going to the top of the Movies topic made me read through, and resolve that it will be the next movie we watch. So thanks for doing that! 

[AimingforYoko]

On 3/10/2021 at 9:32 PM, Cotypubby said:

I found the structure of the film to be really intriguing and a very clever way to put you in the mind of someone with dementia.

To me, since this is my biggest fear, this was a horror film. What is reality but what you perceive reality to be? If you cannot trust that, nothing is real.

Hopkins was awesome, but to me, Colman was better. When she was in the taxi to go and be with Paul, she broke my heart.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar nominations!

Best Picture
“The Father”
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Mank”
“Minari”
“Nomadland”
“Promising Young Woman”
“Sound of Metal”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7″

Best Actor
Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”)
Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”)
Gary Oldman (“Mank”)
Steven Yeun (“Minari”)

Best Supporting Actress
Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”)
Glenn Close (“Hillbilly Elegy”)
Olivia Colman (“The Father”)
Amanda Seyfried (“Mank”)
Youn Yuh-jung (“Minari”)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Sacha Baron Cohen and Co-Writers (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”)
Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton (“The Father”)
Chloe Zhao (“Nomadland”)
Kemp Powers (“One Night in Miami”)
Ramin Bahrani (“The White Tiger”)

Best Film Editing
“The Father”
“Nomadland”
“Promising Young Woman”
“Sound of Metal”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Best Production Design
“The Father”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Mank”
“News of the World”
“Tenet”

[thuganomics85]

Just saw this and this is definitely going to go down as a fantastic movie that I'm not sure if I'll watch again, because it pretty much emotionally destroyed me.  It really shows how scary dementia is and how it not only effects the person who has it, but others around them as well.  The way the film was structured and put together was a great way to approach it.

I honestly think this might be Anthony Hopkins best work yet, which is really saying something.  Performances like this are why I'm fine with him dipping into paycheck mode every now and then, if this means he'll even it out with work like this.  In particular, those last five minutes will go alongside Tom Hanks' last five minutes in Captain Phillips as some of the best gut-wrenching scenes ever.  Hopkins really made the character emotionally vulnerable in a way I'm not use to seeing from him.

The supporting cast was equally great, with Olivia Colman being her normal amazing self, both Mark Gatiss and Rufus Sewell bringing some sinister vibes as always, Imogen Poots was charming in her role, and it was nice seeing Olivia Williams again, since I can't remember the last time I've seen her in something.

Hope it gets some kind of Oscar, but I suspect it will be a runner-up in the end, since Best Actor is pretty much locked in for Chadwick Boseman, I suspect Colman's performance was "too subtle" for some voters since a lot of it was mainly reacting to things and being silent, and most of its over nominations pit it against frontrunner Nomadland (except Production Design, but I suspect they'll give that to something like Mank since that usually how it goes.)  But if it can't go to Hopkins or Colman, I'd at least give it Editing which was top-notch.

[Browncoat]

I feel like I need to see it again to pay more attention to all the subtle differences like the different kitchens and Anne’s tops, but I’m not sure I can see it again.  It was brilliant, but it was really rough to watch as my father’s memory is starting to fail him.  

[SeanC]

Hopkins spent most of the last two decades slumming it in paycheck roles (or otherwise in movies that didn't really work), but seems to have really rejuvenated himself in the last few.  This was maybe the best performance I've ever seen him give.

We've had a bunch of prominent movies based on plays this year (this, One Night in Miami, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom).  This ended up feeling the most cinematic to me, though I don't know how much of that is down to the direction and how much to the source material structurally feeling more like a film (the central conceit certainly plays very well in cinematic language; I'd be interested to know how this came across on stage).

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, SeanC said:

Hopkins spent most of the last two decades slumming it in paycheck roles (or otherwise in movies that didn't really work), but seems to have really rejuvenated himself in the last few.

The first role that made me think he had found his motivation again was Ford in Westworld.

[Simon Boccanegra]

I am glad I streamed this one rather than seeing it at the movies, because I wanted to see it a second time right after I finished it. I intended just to re-watch the beginning scenes (if they can be so termed) in light of what we learn, but then I found it impossible to shut it off. 

It's really a remarkable play-to-film job. I could imagine the acting performances and the words having the same effect on the stage, but here the filmmakers have editing, cinematography, and production design on their side too. These disciplines are used in sophisticated ways that give the story dimensions it couldn't have had in the theater. It's unsettling at first when you find yourself thinking, "Wait. Weren't the cabinets different before? Wasn't the couch a different color? Where did the piano go?" And, of course, it's like being in the main character's mind, untethered from chronology. Except for scenes that break away to Anne's point of view, we're in the moment, in every moment, with Anthony. Every moment is real and convincing, but we struggle to link them up and figure out what's reliable.

As much as Hopkins and Colman deserve all their plaudits and nominations, this whole mini-ensemble is on a comparably high level. I've always enjoyed Olivia Williams, and her performance in the final scene is beautiful. I love the way she lets Anthony's "Fuck off with your medication" roll off her. Catherine has heard it all, from Anthony and many before him. Imogen Poots and the two actors playing the husband are very good too.  

I appreciated, too, that the film never dwelt on the character's pre-dementia life. There was no coaxing of tears with talk of or flashbacks to how brilliant and accomplished Anthony was (although he must have done well for himself). There was just one old photo of him on the nightstand with the two daughters, and we could not even see that in clear focus. Virtually the entire film is preoccupied with a slippery "now."  

I hope people whose interest in movies goes beyond CGI carnage don't let the subject matter frighten them away. This is a reminder that great drama can be found in almost any subject, even a grim one, even one that's been done often (not always well) in movies and TV.  

Edited April 5, 2021 by Simon Boccanegra

[Razzberry]

I put off seeing this because I lived it with my own father several years ago, but did watch it yesterday.  Incredible work by everyone, but especially Hopkins.   The scene where he's crying for his mommy about destroyed me and I had to take a break, but plan to watch it again before my 48 hrs is up.

Someone said "It's not the years in your life, but the life in your years" that matter.  How true that is.

Edited April 7, 2021 by Razzberry

[Razzberry]

I couldn't get over how depressing that sculpture was for a nursing home.  Thankfully it's not actually a medical facility, according to Wiki, but Blythe House, used in many films and "originally built as the headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank, it is now used as a store and archive by the Victoria and Albert, Science and British Museums."

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BAFTA wins!

Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins
Best Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller

[Milburn Stone]

Agree with the plaudits here. To me the movie falls in the same genre as Sound of Metal. Both movies succeeded in putting me inside their protagonists' heads, in frightening yet enlightening ways. Frightening because I very well might become either of them. Enlightening, in that I hope to never lose patience with a person with dementia or hearing loss again.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar wins!

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY): THE FATHER - Screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Anthony Hopkins

Edited April 26, 2021 by ElectricBoogaloo

[SeanC]

Quite a late surge for the film, overcoming the early frontrunners in both categories.

Hopkins now has the third-longest gap between acting wins at the Oscars, after Helen Hayes (1931 to 1970) and Katharine Hepburn (1933 to 1967).

[Hiyo]

A very well deserved win for Hopkins.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Acceptance speech

Florian Zeller

 

[Simon Boccanegra]

I'm happy for Hopkins. Some people are angry or disappointed, and it did end the ceremony on a weird note (no one even making a speech on his behalf), but I don't think anyone who sees the film can say he was undeserving on the merits of the work. This isn't just the usual good showing you'd see in almost any film in which he has a significant role; it was a real career-crowning performance.

I wanted either him or Ahmed to win; I thought they were the most special and memorable. Yeun was very good with the least showy role of the five.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

17 minutes ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

Yeun was very good with the least showy role of the five.

This is why I was 99% sure he wouldn't win. The role was a mostly quiet character who was often hiding his emotions so it wasn't a flashy performance, but it was so believable, sincere, and well done.

[txhorns79]

58 minutes ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

I'm happy for Hopkins. Some people are angry or disappointed, and it did end the ceremony on a weird note (no one even making a speech on his behalf), but I don't think anyone who sees the film can say he was undeserving on the merits of the work. This isn't just the usual good showing you'd see in almost any film in which he has a significant role; it was a real career-crowning performance.

Yes, his performance is a masterclass in acting.  I would dare anyone who watches the ending of this movie to get through it without crying.  

[Spartan Girl]

The scene of him breaking down and crying for his mommy with the caretaker all but stepping in that role to soothe him...damn.

We all have that moment of wanting our mothers but the thought of having it when elderly makes me want to cry.

Nothing but respect for Sir Anthony and his acceptance speech proves that he’s a class act all the way.

[Milburn Stone]

17 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Nothing but respect for Sir Anthony and his acceptance speech proves that he’s a class act all the way.

I agree. He's obviously highly intelligent. He found just the right way to acknowledge Boseman. Not to falsely sentimentalize by saying, "This should have been yours, man!" (something I can imagine coming out of the mouths of previous Oscar winners)--not even to explicitly mention his being nominated in the same category--but simply to mourn his passing.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Milburn Stone