The Father Ending And Real Meaning Explained

The Father: Ending And Real Meaning Explained

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Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of dementia is well-executed by Florian Zeller, so with all the film’s twists and turns, it’s helpful to have an explainer.

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The Father Ending And Real Meaning Explained

Florian Zeller’s film directorial debut The Father features more twists and turns than might be expected from a dementia-oriented Anthony Hopkins vehicle, leaving audiences with a few questions by its end. The film suddenly appeared on most viewers’ radar when Hopkins upset Chadwick Boseman for Best Actor at the conclusion of the 2021 Oscars ceremony. Controversy aside, Zeller’s The Father features a career highlight performance from Hopkins, as well as an expertly plotted screenplay from Zeller, whose direction provides the film a perspective that connotes the perplexing artwork of M.C. Escher. But the story of the decorated 2020 film begins in 2012 with the premiere of Le Père.

Zeller had written novels as well as plays for the stage and screen before Le Père (in his native French), which garnered him widespread critical acclaim in the theatre community beginning in 2012. The Father isn’t even the first attempt to bring the concept to the screen: the French film Floride (2015) uses the bones of Zeller’s play, earning similar critical acclaim — particularly for its aged lead performance. In 2019, it was announced Zeller would make his directorial debut in the world of film by adapting the English version of his celebrated play. He had written the lead role specifically for Hopkins, believing him to be the “greatest living actor” [via Deadline].

Hopkins delivers on Zeller’s praise in a big way, lending his eponymous character Anthony (the “father” in question) a maturity and nuance accessible only to such a seasoned veteran of the craft. Anthony’s daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) is attempting to find a long-term care solution for her stubborn, but often confused, parent while her husband Paul (Rufus Sewell) has grown tired of the inconvenience this dynamic has placed on their marriage. The catch is this: the film is told subjectively from Anthony’s point of view, and given his point of view is affected by his dementia, certain facts seem to change over the course of the narrative – to the audience as well as to Anthony.

What Happens In The Father’s Ending

The Father Ending And Real Meaning Explained

By the end of The Father, Anthony’s (or rather, his daughter’s) flat has reached the end of its several iterations and become an assisted living facility, where he is cared for by his nurse Catherine (Olivia Williams, credited as “The Woman”) and her assistant Bill (Mark Gatiss, credited as “The Man”). The Father has actors play multiple characters as a thematic representation of dementia; these caretakers are faces Anthony has seen before, having perceived his daughter and son-in-law each as bearing resemblance to Catherine and Bill at one point or another. It’s clear Anthony’s hold on reality has slipped to the point where he no longer can muster the effort to even attempt to parse what of his memories are real and what are disjointed composites of his experiences.

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In an emotionally gut-wrenching scene that forms the climax of the film, Anthony remembers his mother to Catherine and suddenly wishes to go home as tears overwhelm him. He confides in Catherine that he feels he is “losing all his leaves” in his twilight, and has become unmoored from the things which gave his life value. As he cries in her arms, Catherine settles him down and tells him he won’t remember this unpleasantness soon, that they’ll go for a walk later, and everything will be alright. In the end, the camera ventures out his window, observing the trees whose leaves rustle in the wind. It’s a heartbreaking and personal moment in the film that elevates the emotional aspects of his character’s story, which is often filled with so much confusion, hazy memories, and a lot of uncertainty regarding what’s real and what isn’t.

What Was Real & What Was In Anthony’s Head In The Father

The Father Ending And Real Meaning Explained

Because of the subjective, labyrinthine quality of the film, it’s easy to wonder what actually happened to Anthony and what he imagined or erroneously put together in his mind. The Anthony Hopkins movie puts the patriarch at the forefront, entreating the audience to empathize with him in a way that mirrors the character’s feeling of being victimized by his surroundings. He frequently misremembers faces, particularly Anne as Catherine and Paul as Bill. In one shot, he is smothered by Anne in his sleep. In another scene, Paul physically assaults him. In yet another, he discovers his daughter and son-in-law speaking ill of him, only to join them, leave, and return to the same scenario he first encountered. Certainly at a minimum, the smothering was imagined, given he lives through to the end of the film, but it emphasizes the sense of vulnerability Anthony feels at the hands of Paul, who very well likely slapped him and spoke brazenly against him.

Then, there’s the matter of his midnight visit with his youngest daughter, Lucy. It’s implied that she had a serious accident and is no longer in the picture — likely deceased. Anthony, not being able to remember this on account of his dementia, continually brings up the subject, especially in reference to how much his most recent caretaker resembles her. Later in the film, he explores the flat, finding it to have become a hospital where he finds Lucy, bloodied and in a brace, lying in a bed with all manner of medical machinery about her. He suddenly wakes from what was evidently a dream or memory, finding himself in his assisted care facility, where he will spend the remainder of the film. Lucy being deceased makes sense considering how emotional Anthony gets when remembering her. What’s more, his treatment of his living daughter, Anne, is harsh, as though he’s angry at her for having survived while his more favored daughter is no longer around. There’s a gravity to these moments, though what can be parsed is that Anne is also at her wit’s end caring for her father, who is often cruel to her because of his dementia, but also his underlying resentment towards her and what happened to Lucy.

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Did Anthony Die At The End Of The Father?

The Father Ending And Real Meaning Explained

By the time he’s in the care of an assisted living facility, Anthony’s understanding of the world around him in The Father has deteriorated to the point of necessitating constant monitoring. The film ends with the promise that he and Catherine will continue a routine that has clearly been ongoing, though the audience and Anthony wouldn’t be able to tell. Despite the perceived obvious destination of a movie focusing on a parent with dementia, the film ends not on a shot of Anthony peacefully drifting into the afterlife, but instead on the trees outside his room. Though his fate is all but determined, the film has more to say on his final situation than merely whether he lived or died.

The Real Meaning Of The Father’s Ending

It’s difficult to find a positive takeaway in a story where the subject matter is as fundamentally terminal as The Father’s, but Zeller manages to walk this tightrope with the aide of a visual metaphor. As Catherine consoles a distraught and disconnected Anthony, she identifies the comfort of his condition: though he’s currently suffering under the weight of his ending, fortunately, his dementia means not remembering that he’s suffered. Instead of fighting against old age or finding some obvious affirming ending in which his daughter stays with him through the bitter end, Zeller approaches dementia moment by moment, with Catherine encouraging Anthony to focus on what’s immediate to him.

Ultimately, people grow old, children live their lives, and that’s okay. It’s also interesting in the way the film tackles memories, with Anthony mostly losing himself in the moments that brought him some sort of emotional pain — he’s often terrified, heartbroken, scared of being attacked because of his confusion, or feeling out of place. To that end, the film is deep because of the way it explores dementia as a labyrinthian trip through the mind of someone who has it. At the end of The Father, the tree still has its leaves, and perhaps that’s the most optimistic statement on Anthony’s condition of all. He lived a life, regardless of whether it’d be considered good or bad (or both) and the tree’s leaves are indicative of growing and blossoming in life, as it cycles on no matter what.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/father-ending-meaning-explained-dementia/

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