THE FATHER [M]

 
 1h 37min | Drama 

Friday, May 21       10:30AM;  6:30PM
Saturday, May 22     1:30PM;  6:30PM
Sunday, May 23       1:30PM    FINAL

A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.

 Director: Florian Zeller
Writers: Christopher Hampton (screenplay), Florian Zeller (screenplay) 
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss

Anthony is 81 years old. He lives alone in his London apartment and refuses all of the nurses that his daughter, Anne, tries to impose upon him. Yet such a necessity is becoming more and more pressing for her, as she can’t see him every day anymore: she has taken the decision to move to Paris to live with a man she has just met…

But if such is the case, then who is this stranger who suddenly bursts into Anthony’s living room, claiming to be married to Anne for over ten years? And why is he claiming with such conviction that they are at the supposed married couple’s home, and not his? Is Anthony losing his mind? Yet he recognizes the place: it is indeed his apartment, and only just the night before was Anne reminding him of her divorce… And didn’t she decide to go and live in Paris? Then why is she now insisting that this was never the case? There seems to be something going around, as if the world, for a moment, has ceased to be logical. Unless his daughter, and her new companion, are the ones trying to make him appear as crazy? Is their objective in fact to rob him of his apartment? Do they want to get rid of him? And where is Lucy, his other daughter?

 Astray in a labyrinth of answerless questions, Anthony desperately attempts to understand what is going on around him. THE FATHER is about the painful trajectory of a man whose reality crumbles little by little before our eyes.

Yet it is also the story of Anne, his daughter, who faces an equally painful dilemma: what must she do with her father? Should she take him with her, even if that means compromising her life with Paul? Does she have the right to live her own life? What happens when one must become parent of one’s own parents?

 *****

THE FATHER is drawn from the stage play of the same name, which was written by Florian Zeller and launched in Paris in 2012, winning a Moliere Award for Best Play, before hitting Broadway and London’s West End, where it won both Tony and Olivier Awards for Best Actor (for Frank Langella and Kenneth Cranham respectively). Zeller directed the film adaptation - his feature debut - filmed in London, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Christopher Hampton (ATONEMENT, DANGEROUS LIAISONS). 

Alongside Oscar®-winners Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, rounding out the film’s cast are Mark Gatiss (THE FAVOURITE, TV’s Sherlock), Imogen Poots (GREEN ROOM, A LONG WAY DOWN), Rufus Sewell (JUDY, TV’s The Man in the High Castle) and Olivia Williams (VICTORIA & ABDUL, AN EDUCATION).

In THE FATHER, Hopkins plays the eponymous role of a mischievous and highly independent man who, as he ages, refuses all assistance from his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman). Yet, such help has become essential following Anne’s decision to move to Paris with her partner. As Anne’s father tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.