Critics’ reviews

The Father (2020)

28 reviews from 28 publications. Critics’ score 88: 22 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative.

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88
Positive
22
Mixed
0
Negative
0
Slant Magazine
13 December 2020 · ★★★★
100

Zeller's adaptation yokes viewers to the man's distorted reality with frightening ease, creating a quietly terrifying drama. Hopkins delivers a subtle, well-calibrated performance at the center of the shifting perspective.

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The Times
11 June 2021 · ★★★★★ · Kevin Maher
100

The review hails the film as one of the great cinematic experiences of the decade, with Hopkins peerless in a crushingly sad, viscerally thrilling adaptation that deploys every formal weapon in the filmmaker's arsenal.

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Evening Standard
11 June 2021 · Charlotte O'Sullivan
90*

The film is a brilliant, thrilling portrayal that places the viewer in the eye of the dementia storm, finding humour in the chaos alongside menace and tragedy. It raises profound questions about care and will likely move audiences to tears.

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The Guardian
10 June 2021 · Peter Bradshaw
90*

The critic praises Hopkins's moving, Oscar-winning performance as a man with dementia and Colman's intelligent turn as his daughter. The film is commended for its disorienting time slips, powerful theatrical effects, and portrayal of grief for someone still alive.

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The Hollywood Reporter
27 January 2020 · festival review · Todd McCarthy
90*

The critic calls it the best film about aging since Amour, praising its insightful, subtle look at dementia. Hopkins delivers a stupendous performance as the proud man in denial, marking an outstanding directorial debut for Zeller.

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Vulture
26 February 2021
90*

The film is a masterful and agonizing drama about dementia, terrifyingly unfolding from the unmoored perspective of cognitive decline. Hopkins deftly shows the loss of dignity while the story remains gorgeously crafted.

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Empire
10 June 2021 · Nick de Semlyen
85*

Zeller creates gripping, audacious POV filmmaking that locks the audience inside the mind of a man with dementia, subverting narrative conventions with shifting settings and conversations. Hopkins gives a powerhouse performance full of compassion for both father and daughter.

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IndieWire
28 January 2020 · festival review · David Ehrlich
85*

The review highlights how the film makes the brutal reality of dementia recognizable through art, with strong performances from Hopkins and Colman. It emphasizes the harrowing, immersive perspective on the disease.

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The Independent
11 June 2021
85*

The critic praises Hopkins' delicate and deserving Oscar-winning performance in Zeller's haunting dementia drama. Zeller's adaptation uses a deceptively simple technique to convey the claustrophobic terror of memory loss, devastating for those affected by dementia.

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The i Paper
10 June 2021 · Francesca Steele
85*

The film feels like a horror drama, with Hopkins delivering a mesmerising, physical, and unflinching performance that plunges the viewer into Anthony's disorienting reality. Zeller's debut effectively distorts space and time to match the effects of dementia.

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The AV Club
18 December 2020 · B+ · A.A. Dowd
83

Hopkins gives a heartbreaking performance stripping away his usual sophistication to portray frailty and distress. The film excels in its immersive, disorienting approach to dementia without sentimentality.

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Little White Lies
9 June 2021 · 3/4/5 · Hannah Strong
80

The critic finds it a haunting and credible portrait of ageing and dementia, powered by superb performances from Hopkins and Colman. They praise the radical choice to tell the story from the sufferer's perspective through clever narrative and set design.

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Time Out
23 April 2021 · ★★★★ · Phil de Semlyen
80

The review calls it a devastating, poignant portrayal of dementia with Hopkins delivering a powerful performance. It singles out the skillful direction and editing that effectively convey the disorientation of the illness.

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Los Angeles Times
25 February 2021 · Justin Chang

The critic highlights Zeller's meticulous and mischievous direction in adapting the play, using shifting apartment details and subjective perspective to heighten the tragedy of dementia. Hopkins gives a devastating performance of psychological cunning and emotional force as Anthony, with Colman equally strong as his daughter Anne.

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RogerEbert.com
25 February 2021 · Christy Lemire

The critic praises the film's dazzling adaptation that places viewers inside the protagonist's dementia-affected mind through shifting realities, unreliable details, and subtle technical craft in editing and production design. Hopkins delivers one of his best performances as charismatic yet ferocious Anthony, matched by Colman's equal work as his daughter.

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Screen Daily
28 January 2020 · festival review

The critic describes it as a deeply moving debut with exceptional performances from Hopkins and Colman, noting its pitiless depiction of dementia and how it simulates the illness through shifting perspectives and editing.

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Sight and Sound
9 June 2021

The critic praises the film as a painfully potent depiction of mental deterioration, highlighting Anthony Hopkins' outstanding performance as a dementia sufferer. They single out the disorienting cinematic techniques that immerse the viewer in the protagonist's confusion.

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The New Yorker
26 February 2021 · Anthony Lane

The critic notes the film's potent impression comes largely from Hopkins at the peak of his powers portraying a man in decline, using the stage-like apartment and swapped roles to convey confusion through the character's eyes. It evokes King Lear in its themes of abandonment and identity loss, standing out among dementia dramas for its reach and loneliness.

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HeyUGuys
22 February 2021 · ★★★★★ · Adam Solomons
100

The film excels through its perspective from the unreliable narrator's viewpoint on Alzheimer's, creating a moving and original take. Mesmerising performances from Hopkins and Colman anchor the heartbreaking narrative.

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/Film
24 September 2020 · 9.5/10 · Jason Gorber
95

Hopkins gives one of his greatest performances in a masterpiece that uses cinematic techniques to convey disorientation and emotional devastation. The film is a profound, gut-wrenching meditation on mortality and diminishing faculties.

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Collider
17 September 2020 · A- · Matt Goldberg
90

The critic finds the film deeply empathetic and moving in its portrayal of dementia through Hopkins' performance. It praises the thoughtful direction and careful storytelling that empathize with the protagonist's detached reality without being exploitative.

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Deadline
23 February 2021 · Pete Hammond
90*

The film is a must-see chamber drama that uses mind-bending techniques to place viewers inside the protagonist's disorienting experience of dementia. Hopkins delivers a magnificent, Oscar-worthy performance as the ultimate unreliable narrator.

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NME
10 April 2021 · Paul Bradshaw
90*

The film is a rich and dignified drama about old age and dementia, powered by a landmark performance from Anthony Hopkins. It uses subtle disorientation to convey the experience of memory loss without relying on gimmicks.

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The Wrap
26 March 2021
85*

The film is an unsettling yet compassionate portrait of dementia that thrusts viewers into the protagonist's confused reality through subtle cinematic tricks. Hopkins gives a masterful, career-highlighting performance as the central unreliable narrator.

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Eye for Film
18 February 2021 · festival review · Anne-Katrin Titze
80*

Zeller fuses dream logic with markers of past trauma in a chamber piece that puts the audience in the shoes of the dementia sufferer. Strong ensemble performances, especially Hopkins oscillating between mean and vulnerable, heighten the emotional impact.

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The Skinny
7 June 2021 · ★★★★ · Carmen Paddock
80

Zeller’s adaptation succeeds through its focus on world-class performances and commitment to the protagonist’s fractured perception of reality. Hopkins delivers a multifaceted portrayal of dignity and vulnerability in the face of dementia.

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The Playlist
29 January 2020 · B · Gregory Ellwood
77

Hopkins delivers a raw, emotional firestorm as a man with dementia, supported by excellent work from Colman and the ensemble. The film remains too stage-bound, going in circles without enough cinematic tension or surprise.

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Paste
24 February 2021 · 8.0 · Andy Crump

The review highlights Hopkins' monumental, astounding performance as the standout element dominating the drama. It notes the film's exercise in heartache and visual techniques enhancing the disorientation of dementia.

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Ordered by the weight we give each publication, then by score. Scores are normalised to 100; * means inferred from an unrated review. Summaries are ours, not quotations; follow the links for the reviews themselves. How we rate