Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) is 81 years old. He lives alone in his London apartment and refuses all of the nurses that his daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), tries to impose upon him. He’s fine, he insists repeatedly, he can look after himself: but the truth is that his world is falling apart.
Astray in a labyrinth of answerless questions, Anthony desperately attempts to understand what is going on around him. ‘The Father’ is about the painful trajectory of a man whose reality crumbles little by little before our eyes.
People in Anthony’s life seem to change their faces and identities at random. Events repeat themselves or happen in the wrong order; objects in his home move around or disappear. Is he going mad, or caught up in some kind of horror story?
The truth is both more ordinary and more poignant. Anthony has dementia, and in an unusual twist, we’re witnessing the process of confusion and disintegration through his own eyes.
Anthony (played by Anthony Hopkins) desperately attempts to understand what is going on around him while living with dementia.
On the making of the film Hopkins reflects that “working on this film… has concentrated my mind on my own mortality. In a way, I half-feel that I might avoid contracting dementia by making it!”
“I’m 82 now and I’ve managed to survive past the age my father was when he died. I think I understood Anthony from the beginning – in a way it was like playing my father.”
Supporting people living with dementia, and their families, has been one of Rotary GB&I’s key community initiatives for the past decade.”
The film, which has garnered critical acclaim including Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards, powerfully shines a light on the rather hidden and confusing, profound and upsetting world of dementia.
The Father also stars Olivia Colman as Anthony’s daughter, Anne.
Supporting people living with dementia, and their families, has been one of Rotary GB&I’s key community initiatives for the past decade.
Rotary clubs across all the country have been involved in a number of ways, including setting up or supporting Memory Cafés, making their communities Dementia Friendly, developing music therapy and reminiscence sessions, building Sensory gardens, helping to fund Admiral Nurses and much more.
Alongside these initiatives, clubs have also been donating therapy tools such as robotic companion pets, twiddle muffs, fidget quilts and memory boxes to care homes and memory cafés across the whole of Great Britain and Ireland.
Via REPoD’s (Rotarians Easing Problems of Dementia) membership of the Alzheimer’s & Dementia Rotary Action Group, Rotary GB&I is also closely connected to other Rotary groups across the world, to share ideas and information on what is a global community issue.
Exclusive Preview Screening for Rotary
We are delighted to be offering 50 places to Rotary members to view The Father via an online screening link on 9th June, ahead of its release.
If you would like a space, please email Judy May at judy@kovapr.com with your email address and mobile number for password authentication. Tickets will be issued on a first come, first served basis.
