Plot: A series of vignettes, often building upon themselves, is presented from the perspective of Anthony, an elderly Londoner, in his home. The next in the series often contradicts the previous, leading to the question of what is real and what is in Anthony's mind, possibly of things from his past that are no longer, in the one thing that is certain: that Anthony suffers from Alzheimer's. Those vignettes that are not from his perspective show what is real in his life: that he has an adult daughter Anne and that Anthony has only recently moved in with her and her husband Paul in Anthony driving away the caregivers that Anne had hired for him when he lived on his own. While Anne loves her father, their relationship is often strained in his waning lucidity and the negative effect his constant presence is having on her marriage. Her ability to carry out a life independent of him is compromised if she cannot find further support in care for him. She doesn't want to take the final step of having him placed in a home, but she may have no other alternative if his situation worsens or if her own personal situation, irrespective of him, changes
Alternative Plot: Anthony (Academy Award Winner, Anthony Hopkins) is 80, mischievous, living defiantly alone and rejecting the carers that his daughter, Anne (Academy Award and Golden Globe Winner, Olivia Colman), encouragingly introduces. Yet help is also becoming a necessity for Anne; she can't make daily visits anymore and Anthony's grip on reality is unraveling. As we experience the ebb and flow of his memory, how much of his own identity and past can Anthony cling to? How does Anne cope as she grieves the loss of her father, while he still lives and breathes before her? THE FATHER warmly embraces real life, through loving reflection upon the vibrant human condition; heart-breaking and uncompromisingly poignant -- a movie that nestles in the truth of our own lives.
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