In 2012, in conjunction with the screening of the movie "Amour" - in which writer and director Michael Haneke addressed the problem of dementia and its effects on adults and their families, and won more than 80 awards - Florian Zeller presented the most exciting theater writer of our time - according to the description of "The New" newspaper. Urban - Another treatment of the same problem in the play "The Father", which achieved great success in the theaters of Paris, London and New York, among about a dozen plays by Zeller shown in 45 countries.

Zeller returns after 8 years and turns the script into the movie "The Father", to be his first film work written and directed, in which Sir Anthony Hopkins, who won the Oscar, offers one of the most influential and emotional roles in his career, and he embodies the changing world of elderly parents Those around them are under the influence of dementia.

The Oscar-winning English star Olivia Coleman stars in front of him in the role of his daughter, who shares his suffering.

The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, January 27th, and is expected to be shown to the public on December 18.

Very moving handling

The movie "The Father" was described by its writer and director Florian Zeller as "dealing with a global topic at this very moment in our life, with loneliness, dementia, mental illness and high suicide rates."

The film presented a harsh and exciting picture of what you can feel when you lose control of reality. According to film critic Benjamin Lee, it is "a film about the bone-penetrating horror of living with dementia, and it will haunt me for weeks."

So critics expect him to achieve global success, making him a milestone in the career of Zeller, who created a sharp, confusing and exhausting drama, alternating between Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman over a period of 97 minutes, making them worthy of Oscar glory, as Anne (Olivia Coleman) returns home and greets her father saying "Hello dad," says Father Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) that he does not know who she is, nor does he know who he is.

Anthony, the English father who is over 80, but still snappy and smug, insists on living alone in his large, luxurious apartment full of books in London, and tries to speak sweetly to make those around him think that he is still fine, but he quickly expels every nurse who comes to his aid, Shouting: I don't need you, I don't need anyone.

This makes Anne feel that she is in dire need of help, as she can no longer carry out her life's tasks normally while she sees her father’s memory crumbling between ebbs and flows, and his grip is loosening as he tries to grasp his identity and his past, and the grief almost kills her for his loss even though he lives and breathes in front of her.

Desperation drives her to question her right to life as she plans to move from London to Paris, but she wants to ensure Anthony's safety, and to provide someone to care for before leaving, which puts her father's condition in a new phase.

Intelligence of visual manipulation

Many films that dealt with the problem of dementia have tried to convey the mental states of the patient through direct traditional means, such as random rotational imaging, special effects and montage.

But no one had succeeded in portraying the invasion of amnesia as profoundly as Zeller did in this movie, as he seemed to tell us the story with his own eyes, using some very simple visual manipulation in Anthony's residence, to contribute to "raising the level of visibility of the old man's weakness clearly in the film to an extent." Great, "according to film critic Todd McCarthy.

When Anthony searches for something and does not find it, he asks his daughter if she is sure that he is in his private apartment, but she does not answer him, and instead the viewer notices very slight differences in the shape of the place, and its general outlines give the impression as if the man is not in the place he thinks he is actually. .

Thus Zeller's camera manipulates the old man's perceptions of reality, using a technique that subtly changes from scene to scene, moving us from state to state in an impressive way even though we are still in the same place.

Through the introduction of continuous adjustments to the decor of the apartment, the meaning of the film and its final effect are revitalized, in confirmation of the deterioration of the old man's relationship with reality.

Legendary Hopkins performance

It's an exciting experience watching Hopkins' legendary octogenarian role as he fights against the dying light in a clever way to express the terrifying state of mind of a person with dementia "who has the vitality of a young man, but whose mind is a wandering ship looking for a beacon surrounded by rugged rocks," as David Ehrlich puts it.

In addition, how every day is filled with sudden shocks as he tries to explain what he is rationally going through to himself and to those around him, or when his world changes but remains silent, realizing that any attempt by him to ask what is happening will not find listening ears.

Likewise, his complex reaction, which is not without some humor, when he finds a strange man sitting in his office and reading the newspaper as if he owns the place, and claims that he is the husband of his daughter Anne, who will flee to Paris with another man, and that he (Anthony) is a temporary guest in their apartment, so Hopkins turns the situation into an opportunity An ominous one made available to a person who was stripped of everything except his cruelty.

Hopkins, who is 82 years old and knows how to keep the viewer on his toes, remains on constant alert, going from anger to annoyance until it seems like a hopeless tale of a man who loses more than his memory, a man who loses himself.

All this without losing sight of what Olivia Coleman's performance - a daughter - hides from a likable weakness that makes you feel warm.