The New Yorker
The mainspring of is the presence of Hopkins-an actor at the frightening summit of his powers, portraying a man brought pitifully low.
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The Father
Anthony Hopkins claimed another Academy Award for his performance in this father-daughter drama as an elderly man who refuses assistance - a decision that has him questioning his current circumstances, his loved ones, and even his own mind. Co-stars fellow Oscar-winner Olivia Colman.
2020Rating: M, Offensive language97 minsUK, France
Drama
- Director:
- Florian Zeller (feature debut)
- Writer:
- Florian ZellerChristopher Hampton
- Cast:
- Anthony HopkinsOlivia ColmanOlivia WilliamsRufus SewellEvie WrayMark GatissImogen PootsAyesha Dharker
The Father | Awards
Best Actor (Hopkins) and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2021 Academy Awards and BAFTAs.
The Father | Reviews
Rolling Stone
Gives Anthony Hopkins a role designed to nearly break your heart: a role full of anger and displacement and uncertainty but, also, flashes of humor, a sprightly fullness of life
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Stuff
A psychological mystery, a truly heart-wrenching drama and a wild emotional ride all at once.
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Time Magazine
A polished piece of work but an unsparing one, offering no false assurances.
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ABC
An accomplished debut, but it doesn't always live up to the promise of its style and surface complexity.
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Sydney Morning Herald
Should scare the stuffing out of anybody who has contemplated their own failing memory.
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Screen Daily
The Father incorporates what could have just been a storytelling gimmick and infuses it with such sorrow, grace and even the occasional dark joke that it becomes a profound exploration of how we say goodbye to someone dear to us — even though they have not yet really gone.
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The Guardian
It’s a difficult, often quite brutal, viewing experience, as it needs to be given the subject matter, not only because of the fractured storytelling but because of the devastating lead performance from Hopkins.
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IndieWire
The Father exists for no discernible reason other than to render an inexplicably cruel element of the human condition in a recognizable way, and to do so in a way that only good art can.
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Variety
The Father is a chamber piece, but it has the artistic verve to keep twisting the reality it shows us without becoming a stunt.
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Vanity Fair
The Father is an act of understanding, radical in its toughness and its generous artistry.
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Hollywood Reporter
The best film about the wages of aging since Amour eight years ago, The Father takes a bracingly insightful, subtle and nuanced look at encroaching dementia and the toll it takes on those in close proximity to the afflicted.
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