Directed by: Florian Zeller
Based on a play of the same name.
Anthony Hopkins won the Oscar for Best Actor.
It's about a man in his 80s dealing with dementia - a very empathetic, kind, possibly boring idea. But the film takes this idea and makes a mind-bending, heart-breaking film out of it. How? We as the audience feel the disorientation that the man is feeling. The scenes keep cutting back and forth in time, we go 5 years ahead, 3 years back, without even realizing. We wake up in different places, cities, countries, meet different people, have hallucinations now and then. It's a chaos. And every non-sensical question that he asks his daughter, make total sense to us now. I've met a few people who're dealing with dementia, and after having watched this film, I feel like everything that they said and felt, would've made complete sense to them. It feels non-sensical to us. But to them, it's disorienting. I feel like this film is a tight slap to anyone who'd be insensitive to someone going through dementia. This film makes you feel it yourself to know what it could possibly feel like.
Apart from the dementia angle - films like Amour - films that talk about aging are always a reality check. Life is eventually going to get there. When we see people take care of their parents, partners when they're going through a lot - it makes me ponder a lot. Because we as young people find it very easy to say things like, 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you' to someone who we're attracted to and to whose jokes we laugh at. But do we know what we're signing up for? We might have to take care of them, clean their poop, and be there for them as a parent is there for a baby. Are we ready to do all of that for this person - who seems "cute, talented and funny"? Films like these make me think a lot about life and the people we have in it. Is there a point of living in so much pain? Isn't it easier to just go when living starts being such a pain? Who would I have around me when I'm in that state? Would I be okay being a burden on someone? Whether I have answers to all these questions or not, and irrespective of what I'd do once I get there - I just want to ensure that I don't have any regrets when I get there. That's it.
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