ReelBob: ‘The Father’ ★★★★

An emotionally draining movie that will hit close to home, especially for families dealing with a member battling dementia.

“The Father” is an emotionally devastating movie that hit too close to home for me.

A few months before he died, my father had to be placed in a memory care unit. He was 95. Shortly afterward, my wife, son and I visited him. He was chatty and friendly, but it was obvious that he really did not recognize us.

We chatted for more than an hour, reminding him of who we were, other family members and experiences we had shared. He smiled and nodded, but we could tell he did not know what we were talking about.

When we left, I wept. I realized that I had lost my father — that although he was physically with us, mentally he was gone.

That is why “The Father” is difficult for me to watch — and perhaps also will be for others who have had similar family experiences.

The movie, directed by Florian Zeller, based on his play, and adapted by Zeller and Christopher Hampton, is told mostly through the perspective of 80-year-old Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), who is finding it more and more difficult to discern reality from delusion.

Anthony continually cannot separate the people in his life. He can’t understand why he is being treated like a child or being persecuted.

His surroundings continue to change; objects appear and disappear.

Anthony wants to be independent and spend the rest of his life in the London apartment in which he has lived for decades. He shows signs of paranoia when dealing with his daughter, Anne, her husband, Paul, or his various caregivers.

His moods shift suddenly and unexpectedly from lucidity and joy to belligerence, anger and suspicion.

Anthony wants to be self-sufficient but begins feeling abandoned when Anne tells him she is moving to Paris.

Because “The Father” is told from Anthony’s point of view, we, like Anthony, find it difficult to separate real events from how he imagines them.

Zeller keeps us off balance, so we can appreciate and understand Anthony’s confusion, vulnerability and disassociation.

“The Father” is a sensitive and realistic picture of dementia’s toll — not only on the person in the grip of its effects but those around him, especially family members.

Olivia Colman is superb as Anne, who works as hard as she can to balance her life with the obligations she accepts as a loving and supportive daughter.

You see the pain in Colman’s eyes and hear the desperation in her voice, as she interviews caregivers or thinks about moving Anthony to a facility that is equipped to handle his needs.

Olivia Williams is sympathetic in what amounts to three characterizations touching Anthony’s life.

“The Father,” though, belongs to Hopkins. He towers over the rest of the cast, giving a splendid and harrowing performance as a man knowing on some level that his mind is betraying him.

Hopkins’ tour-de-force portrayal is nuanced and mesmerizing. His acting is courageous because he subtly reveals Anthony’s turmoil and perplexity. Hopkins shows Anthony’s awareness and horror about his deteriorating intellectual state.

“The Father” is a painful experience that saddens you. It is, however, one of the best movies of the year. It may lack hope, but it overflows with heart.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.

THE FATHER
4 stars out of 4
(PG-13), thematic elements, some strong language