History Film / TheFather

-->--'''Anthony'''

* AdultFear: Watching your parent's mind degrade to where they can no longer recognize you or their surroundings as they become harder to deal with is about as real-life scary as you can get. [[spoiler:Anne's heartbreaking decision in the end to put him in a facility when she was initially against it is a terrifying choice countless people have to make every day.]] Not to mention that it's even scarier from Anthony's perspective, and he can't even know what's going on because his own mind is betraying him.

* ElderAbuse: Maybe. In this MindScrew movie it's hard to tell, but it appears that the man in the house slaps Anthony, causing Anne to run out of the kitchen and find him sobbing. What makes it hard to tell is that it's Mark Gatiss who slaps him but Rufus Sewell who's cringing in embarrassment when Anne runs into the room. (It appears that it was Rufus Sewell who slapped Anthony, because that scene is shot from Anne's point-of-view.)

* VorpalPillow: In one of the few scenes in the movie that are unambiguously from Anne's point of view, at one point when the stress of taking care of Anthony is getting to her, she imagines smothering him with a pillow.
* WhamLine: Anthony's "Who are you?" to the man who's sitting in his room is the first sign that there is something very wrong with him beyond the usual ScatterbrainedSenior.

** It's unclear what exactly is happening to Anthony in some scenes due to his dementia. The film opens with Anne saying she's going to live in Paris, but the Man (or Paul) doesn't seem to understand what Anthony is saying when he repeats this, and Anne tells a psychologist that she's not going anywhere and has no idea what Anthony is talking about; but at the end of the film, Anne tells Anthony she is indeed going to live in Paris [[MindScrew and even sends him a postcard]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Though it's impossible to tell what actually happens in the film, the most likely scenario is that Anne realizes that her father's condition has advanced so far to where she can no longer care for him at home as she wanted, and she is forced to put him in a hospital. Anthony breaks down in fear of his condition in a nurse's arms.]]

* VorpalPillow: In one of the few scenes in the movie that are unambiguously from Anne's point of view, at one point, when the stress of taking care of Anthony is getting to her, she imagines smothering him with a pillow.

->"There's something funny going on..."

-->"There's something funny going on..."

''The Father'' is a 2020 drama directed by Florian Zeller and written by him and Christopher Hampton. It is based on Zeller's 2012 play ''Le Père''.

''The Father'' stars Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Anthony, Creator/OliviaColman as Anne (probably--there's an element of ThroughTheEyesOfMadness), Creator/RufusSewell, Creator/ImogenPoots, Creator/OliviaWilliams, and Creator/MarkGatiss. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival ahead of a general release on February 26, 2021. The trailer can be seen [[https://youtu.be/4TZb7YfK-JI here]]. Compare ''Film/{{Henry}}'', a 2011 short film with a similar premise.

!!Tropes Associated with The Father include:

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: A particularly heartbreaking example, as the film depicts the POV of a man suffering from dementia.

* ElderAbuse: Maybe. In this MindScrew movie it's hard to tell, but it appears that the man in the house slaps Anthony, causing Anne to run out of the kitchen and find him sobbing. What makes it hard to tell is that it's Mark Gatiss who slaps him but Rufus Sewell who's cringing in embarrassment when Anne runs into the room.
** Wikipedia suggests that Rufus Sewell did in fact slap Anthony, and that this is what led Anne to divorce him.

''The Father'' stars Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Anthony, Creator/OliviaColman as Anne (probably--there's an element of ThroughTheEyesOfMadness), Creator/RufusSewell, Creator/ImogenPoots, Creator/OliviaWilliams, and Creator/MarkGatiss. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival ahead of a general release on February 26, 2021. The trailer can be seen [[https://youtu.be/4TZb7YfK-JI here]].

* TheDanza: Starring Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Anthony.

* The Danza: Starring Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Anthony.

Anthony is an 80-year-old Welshman. Active, mischievous, and charming, he insists he is perfectly capable of living alone despite his age. However, his daughter, unable to visit every day, insists on hiring in-home care. As Anthony tries to rebel against this imposition, he notices that the world around him increasingly appears to not be as it seems. Even the flat where he has lived for decades isn't staying the same, and the people and things inside keep changing.

''The Father'' stars Creator/AnthonyHopkins, Creator/OliviaColman, Creator/RufusSewell, Creator/ImogenPoots, Creator/OliviaWilliams, and Creator/MarkGatiss. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival ahead of a general release on February 26, 2021. The trailer can be seen [[https://youtu.be/4TZb7YfK-JI here]].

'''The Father''' is a 2020 drama directed by Florian Zeller and written by him and Christopher Hampton. It is based on Zeller's 2012 play ''Le Père''.

** The most likely explanation is that Olivia Colman (Anne) was married to Rufus Sewell (Paul), and that Anthony confuses Olivia Williams and Mark Gatiss (Catherine and Bill, nurses at the institution) with his daughter and stepson. Imogen Poots, who first appears onscreen as Laura the caretaker, seems to "really" be Anthony's daughter Lucy who died some time ago in an accident. Of course, since the character of Laura appears a second time in the person of Olivia Williams, and then Olivia Williams is later identified as Catherine, the nurse from the institution, it's still unclear how much if at all a character named "Laura" exists at all.

** TheOtherWiki suggests that Rufus Sewell did in fact slap Anthony, and that this is what led Anne to divorce him.

* AnachronicOrder: A symptom of Anthony's dementia. A scene where Olivia Colman argues with Rufus Sewell is repeated twice in a row. The new caretaker, Laura, comes for her first day at work...and then later she comes for her first day at work again, played by a different actress. Anne says that she's divorced and she's going to Paris, then later says that she's married and has no thought of going to Paris.

* UnreliableNarrator: See above. Anthony doesn't understand the extent of his mental decline, and as such his connection to reality is unstable.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:The Woman and the Man are Catherine and Bill, two workers at the hospital Anthony is staying at, and his poor mind is confusing them with Anne and Paul. [[MindScrew Probably]].]]

* UnreliableNarrator: see above. Anthony doesn't understand the extent of his mental decline, and as such his connection to reality is unstable.

* AdaptationNameChange: In the original play and subsequent English translation, the titular character was named "Andre". In the film it was changed to "Anthony".

''The Father'' stars Creator/AnthonyHopkins, Creator/OliviaColman, Creator/RufusSewell, Creator/ImogenPoots, Creator/OliviaWilliams, and Creator/MarkGatiss. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival ahead of a general release on December 18, 2020. The trailer can be seen [[https://youtu.be/4TZb7YfK-JI here]].

* ActingForTwo: Inverted. Individual characters are played by multiple actors (ie Creator/OliviaColman and Creator/OliviaWilliams both play Anne, depending on the scene) and whoever is the "real" one is left deliberately ambiguous.

* TheDanza: Creator/AnthonyHopkins plays Anthony.

* ParanoiaFuel: Locations, things, even people keep changing around Anthony. You'd be paranoid, too.

''The Father'' stars Creator/AnthonyHopkins, Creator/OliviaColman, Creator/RufusSewell, Creator/ImogenPoots, Creator/Creator/OliviaWilliams, and Creator/MarkGatiss. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival ahead of a general release on December 18, 2020. The trailer can be seen [[https://youtu.be/4TZb7YfK-JI here]].