The Father is a 2020 drama film co-written and directed by French director Florian Zeller, based on his 2012 play The Father. The film is a French-British co-production. The film stars Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, and Mark Gatiss. It tells the story of an elderly Welsh man who must deal with progressive memory loss. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2020, and is scheduled to be distributed by Lionsgate for UK theaters on January 8, 2021. Critics praised the film, including Hopkins and Colman's performances. Former engineer Anthony doesn't want to leave the luxurious London apartment where he has lived for many years. When his daughter Anne, who lives with him, announces that she is leaving to live in Paris with Paul, Anthony worries about what will happen to him. Anne worries, too, because her father is showing signs of dementia. Sometimes he is perfectly fine, but other times he doesn't know who she is. Anthony says that sometimes he sees a man in his apartment who he doesn't recognize, and this man says he lives there. Anne decides to hire a nurse named Laura to care for him, but despite Anthony's initial positive reaction to her, he insists that he does not need a caregiver and can take care of himself. However, when he cannot find anything he is looking for, he asks Anne if he is in his own apartment, because she suddenly looks different. He even becomes suspicious of Anne, wondering if she is playing some trick on him to make him believe that his own belongings are not there. Rotten Tomatoes gave The Father a 100% rating based on 36 reviews, with the site's critics consensus reading: "Led by writer-director Florian Zeller, The Father delivers a devastatingly sympathetic portrait of dementia, bolstered by excellent performances and a technically slick dementia management." Metacritic gave the film an 86% rating based on 10 critics. Owen Gleiberman wrote in Variety: "The Father does something that few films about mental decline in old age have done in this way. “It puts us in the mind of someone losing his mind, and it does so by revealing that mind to be a place of rational and seemingly coherent experience,” wrote Benjamin Lee of Hopkins’ performance for The Guardian , “It is a stunning and heartbreaking work to watch as he tries to rationally explain to himself and those around him what he is going through. In some of the film’s most quietly disturbing moments, his world shifts again but he remains silent, aware that any attempt to question what he has awakened to will fall on deaf ears. Hopkins runs the gamut from angry to angry to disturbing to never feeling.” Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “The best film about old age since Amour eight years ago, The Father offers a sharp and nuanced look at the creeping onslaught of dementia and the damage it inflicts on those closest to the afflicted. Fronted by a stunning performance from Anthony Hopkins as a proud Englishman in denial about his condition, this powerful work marks the brilliant directorial debut of French playwright Florian Zeller.” The film was nominated for the Audience Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was officially selected at: Sundance Film Festival Toronto International Film Festival Telluride Film Festival San Sebastian International Film Festival Zurich Film Festival Hamptons International Film Festival Dinard British Film Festival Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Olivia Colman).