Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The Father (2020)

This is another horror story for boomers, in which Anthony Hopkins plays Anthony, an irascible Englishman with dementia, and Olivia Colman is his daughter Anne. Florian Zeller directs and co-wrote the script based on his own 2012 play Le Père, with co-writer Christopher Hampton. It is superb, but not easy to watch, especially for us who occasionally struggle to remember a word, a name, or something else.

The movie is somewhat non-linear, and has six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and dozens of other accolades. Colman doesn't have much use for her 1000 watt smile, so, when she does light it up, it's wonderful.

The only track from the soundtrack by Ludovico Einaudi that's online is this one, but he has plenty of other tracks available on both Apple Music and Spotify.

Zeller has said that he renamed the character Anthony (in the play it was André) because he was determined to cast Hopkins in the title role. And Hopkins suggested some of his favorite operas for his character to enjoy.

Hopkins was last blogged for The Two Popes, Hampton for A Dangerous Method, and Einaudi for Nomadland (also vying for Best Picture). After Colman won the Best Actress Oscar for The Favourite (her character was also named Anne, Queen Anne), she starred as Queen Elizabeth in seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown. This is Zeller's directing and feature screenwriting debut.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics support the patriarchy, averaging 98%, while its audiences are a little rebellious at 88. We paid to rent it on Apple TV on the 26th, and it's also available to stream on Prime and other platforms.

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