DVD & BluRay

The Father

LionsGate, cert 12, Blu-ray £14.99 & on Digital

Nobody was more surprised than Anthony Hopkins when he picked up a Best Actor Oscar for The Father at the age of 83. He was not tipped to win, and no-show Hopkins was visiting Wales instead of being present in Hollywood. It’s even more surprising a film about an ageing man suffering from ever-worsening dementia got made in the first place. Tinseltown is running scared of making movies for adults because the cinema-going audience is obsessed with lycra wearing heroes and heroines with super powers. Perhaps, the hope is grown-ups tired of superheroes saving the world will turn to digital streaming and DVDs for something deeper to get their teeth into. The Father will strike an uncomfortable chord with anyone who has gone through the trauma and distress of watching a loved one slipping away into a misty world of jumbled memories. It’s the dark flip-side of people living longer. Giving a tour-deforce performance, Hopkins (pictured) plays another Anthony, a man losing touch with his former self and baffled by a world he no longer recognises. His outbursts of previously-uncharacteristic temper and unfounded accusations have driven many home-care nurses away, much to the distress of daughter Anne (the brilliant Olivia Colman) who has a life of her own to live and a new man to share it with. If her

father’s deteriorating condition allows it. Events become ever more confusing as we see his constantly-shifting world of people he no-longer recognises through Anthony’s bewildered eyes. A film you won’t forget in a hurry.