Anthony Hopkins’s portrayal of dementia will undo you: The Father reviewed

The Father is an immensely powerful film about dementia starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, who was asleep in his bed in Wales when his Best Actor Oscar was announced, so we’ll never know if his outfit would have been a hit or a miss. Shall we give him the benefit of the doubt and say ‘hit’? Either way, he is absolutely remarkable here. I read the screenplay, available online, out of curiosity, and what he brings to the words on the page is beyond and beyond and beyond. Hopkins has played King Lear (twice) but this is his real King Lear.

Adapting it from his own play (with help from Christopher Hampton), Florian Zeller has also directed the film. Zeller wrote the part specifically for Hopkins, hence our main character is called Anthony. This Anthony lives in a magnificent flat in an expensive part of London and the action rarely strays.