The Father Ending Explained [SPOILER!]

SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!

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.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The Father Video Summary

The Father Plot Summary and Synopsis

Anne (Olivia Colman) visits her father Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) in his flat after he becomes belligerent with his recent caretaker. Anthony is suffering from dementia and constantly forgets important life events and where things are around his flat, including his watch, despite the fact that he places it in the same place every day. He tells Anne he thought his recent caretaker stole his watch and that he will never leave his flat.

Anne tells Anthony she plans to leave London and move to Paris to live with her new boyfriend, which confuses Anthony since he states she’s married to Paul (Rufus Sewell). Anne tells him they’ve been divorced for five years and leaves.

The next day, Anthony sees Paul as a completely different person (Mark Gatiss), and is confused by him living in his flat. Paul states that Anthony lives with him and Anne. Anne returns from the market with chicken for dinner and appears as a different woman (Olivia Williams).

This confuses Anthony to the point of frustration. Anne schedules for a new caretaker interview in his house, Laura (Imogen Poots), in which Anthony claims he was a professional dancer and that he doesn’t need any living assistance. Anthony later states after she is hired that he reminds him of his other daughter Lucy, whom he hasn’t talked to for months for reasons he is unaware of.

Anthony is taken to a doctor by Anne and is asked about his memory; he claims he has no memory problems. Anthony tells Laura about how proud he is of his daughter Lucy, who is a painter. Laura tells him she is very sorry about Lucy’s accident, to which Anthony says he’s unaware of what she’s referring to. Laura drops the subject and moves on, giving him his medication. Over the course of the film, it is revealed that Anthony has really been living in Anne and Paul’s flat for years, but still believes he lives in his private flat.

The night Anne comes back with the chicken from the market, she and Paul have an argument over a vacation to Italy they had to cancel in order to deal with the fallout of Anthony’s earlier belligerent behavior to the caretaker, and about how much Anne sacrifices for her father. Paul asks Anthony how long he plans to stay in their flat and annoys everyone, leading to Paul slapping Anthony to the point of crying. Anne sees this behavior, which ultimately leads to their divorce.

Anthony wakes up in his room and walks out of the flat, only to find himself in a hospital hallway. He remembers his daughter Lucy (Imogen Poots) died in a car accident at the hospital. He sees her bloody body in the hospital room then wakes up in a completely different bedroom, now in a nursing home.

His nurse, Catherine (Olivia Williams), checks in on him and informs him Anne has moved to Paris and visits on occasional weekends. Another nurse, Bill (Mark Gatiss), also visits during their interaction.

The Father Ending

Anthony has an emotional breakdown over his inability to understand the world anymore and Anne’s disappearance and states he wants his mother. Catherine comforts him as he cries and tells him she’ll take him outside to the park later that day. The audience pans over to the surrounding forest as trees rustle from the wind.

The Ending Explained

It is stated from the beginning that the protagonist is suffering from dementia, and the course of the movie goes further in proving this fact. Anthony can not recognize what is real, and what is not, his memories transform in quirky ways, melting real life with events passed a long time ago, real people he communicating right now with the ones he knew or met years or even decades ago. In the end, his mind comes back to the child state he entered this world with, knowing nothing about it.

Cooncel Rating

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).

US Release Date: January 27 2020
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, Olivia Williams
Directed By: Florian Zeller
Synopsis: 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.
Preview: https://cooncel.com/the-father-extended-preview-video/