The Oldie

A connoisseur’s collection

The Father (2020)

Anthony Hopkins has always been good at staring into space and looking bewildered. His Academy Award-winning blank intensity is just the job for this tale of an old boy losing his marbles, fading away with dementia. Characters come and go – are they real or are they figments of a disintegrating consciousness? I imagine Florian Zeller reckoned he was directing a serious study of memory and meaning. In the end (the presence of Mark Gatiss is a clue), what we have is a glorified episode of Inside Number 9, with twists and counter-twists. Olivia Colman is on hand as the cheerful and long-suffering daughter. I thought it all added up to a very good case for assisted dying – compulsory assisted

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