This is one of those films that kind of appears from nowhere then promptly blows everyone away. It was nominated for 6 academy awards, winning 2, including best actor for Anthony Hopkins who at 83 became the oldest winner of that award.
Adapted from a play called La Père, also written by director Florian Zellor, the story follows Anthony (played by Hopkins), his struggle with dementia and the effect that has on his daughter Anne, played by the ever brilliant Olivia Colman.
This film is clever, incredibly clever, in that it’s told almost entirely from Anthony’s point of view, we as the audience feel his frustration and confusion as faces change, the lay out and decoration of his flat changes and time appears to loop, all done very purposefully to give the viewer a feel of how people with dementia start to lose track and indeed trust in what they see and remember.
For me this did echo ever so slightly of Joker, in that our narrator is unreliable at best and like Joker, the idea, the technique is executed beautifully.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Hopkins and Colman can give performances this good, they’re 2 of the very best, but here they are absolutely incredible and perhaps the biggest surprise is that Colman didn’t win any kind of award for her role. Her performance as long suffering daughter Anne is a painful reminder that this awful disease doesn’t just affect the person with it, but those around them as well.
I think I’ll struggle to see a better film this year, yes there will be ones I enjoy more or are more traditional blockbuster types, but I can’t imagine any of them will be like this.
A perfect 10/10
Dead Mans Chest 