Anthony (an Oscar-winning Anthony Hopkins) is a sprightly 80-something who is enjoying retirement in his beloved London flat. His daughter (Olivia Colman) is caring and attentive, but the people and the furniture around him keep changing, giving The Father the feel of a horror movie – and in a way it is. The conceit is that Anthony has dementia, and most of the film is shown from his perspective. It's chilling, upsetting, but utterly gripping, because you never know what will happen next and how it will connect to what's gone before. Not that The Father is a mere exercise in technical ingenuity. Florian Zeller's grief-racked drama, which he adapted from his own play with the help of Christopher Hampton, makes you dread having an infirm parent, and makes you dread becoming one even more. (NB)
