Best Actor 2020: Anthony Hopkins in The Father

Anthony Hopkins won his second Oscar from his sixth nomination for portraying Anthony in The Father. 

The Father is a brilliant film depicting a man going through Alzheimer's while his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) tries to take care of him. That description by the way doesn't at all serve this film which is so much more than that basic plot outline. That alone might make one simply describe as a "fine film", if you have not seen it, but if you have, it is a stunning and surprisingly visceral experience. 

Anthony Hopkins, who has now become the oldest actor nominated for this award, has hit the point in his career where his greatness is merely considered a facet of who he is as an actor. In a way this is a shame, as it can cause some to take for granted what he is doing, when something he might be doing might be substantial for most actors however seems easy for him. Well that is a disservice to Hopkins's craft, which should not be judge any differently simply because it is known that he is great. This here from the outset, without watching the film again, it might be easy to take Hopkins for granted as he's playing this older man, named Anthony, one might assume, this is just another good performance for him, that is quite wrong. We open in the film and Hopkins is wonderful in establishing Anthony seemingly in his early state. This as there is an affable charm that Hopkins initially brings to Anthony as he denies needing any help from his daughter. Hopkins though here is a choice, a magnificent choice, in as he approaches the role of Anthony. This as a man who will do everything he can essentially to not be where he is in terms of his own mind. That affability, an attempt to be normal within his existence, something that is not easy. Hopkins, who does doddering perhaps better than anyone, puts forth someone trying to brush off any concern by acting as still very much at peace with himself.

When he is questioned about why he dismissed his most recent caretaker to his daughter. Hopkins is already amazing in the scene of explaining that he believes she stole his watch leading to the dismissal. Hopkins's delivery initially is brushing off any questions as though he is just capable and able to ignore the mistakes he might've made. When pressed more though Hopkins is amazing just in the way he does so much in even a moment of Anthony trying to gather his thoughts. He becomes lost for a moment, but in becoming lost you see a bit of anger as he tries to basically push himself to remember something. Hopkins then speaking to the watch he claims the caretaker stole with some confidence and suddenly a greater comfort. In that briefest of moments conveying the conflict in the man's mind, a conflict Anthony wants to try to deny more than anything else. Hopkins is so good though in his delivery eventually even becoming playful in just trying to dismiss the situation, trying to avoid one thing by focusing on another. There is something immediately heartbreaking though as he does respond to his daughter's concern. There is a genuine care in his voice if only for a moment, Hopkins showing the true father in the moment. When Anne though implies a knowledge of his hidden watch, and Hopkins again switches again so naturally to a bit annoyance that he plays with both a hint of rage, but also just a sense of fun. When he finds the watch, again Hopkins's face is no longer with any issue, and he speaks to his daughter with glow, reassuring himself. When the conversation turns that she's leaving to some other city, possibly Paris, Hopkins has such a potent internalized fear that he shows a man holding back such fear while also trying to hold strong. When she reveals a new man in her life. Hopkins wavers between so much. A vicious attack on his daughter, as though for her to give up this new phase in her life, again almost a joke to act like it is nothing as he notes that in Paris they don't speak English, but then genuine heartbreak in seeming to think directly of being this lonely man without a family. This is a masterclass of acting...and it is only his first scene. 

In many ways we get every bit of greatness that there can be to an Anthony Hopkins performance all in this performance, that as he so naturally creates this state of Anthony that slowly seems to reveal itself. This just even in the kind of charm that Hopkins can find in his own manner. The way even as he prepares a few things around the house, Hopkins manages to find a nice certain lightness to it, granting a bit character and humanity even within this seemingly minor moment. The film though begins to reveal itself, which is almost as much a horror film as a drama in a way. Hopkins takes us within this certain sense of discovery within his performance as he wanders around seemingly his own flat discovering a man he does not know. Hopkins's reaction creates this sense of curiosity at first in asking about it. This attempt at trying to almost convince himself of something that makes sense. This as his eyes show a man trying to analyze the situation. When the man does not immediately answer, a sudden burst of anger again speaks more so to his own frustration at trying to understand more so than does come from trying to demand anything from the man. I love the way Hopkins expresses this pained attempt to accept any immediate solution. This as the man claims to be Anne's husband, Hopkins accepts it with this rambling delivery. This that shows the man almost trying to speak himself into sense. Hopkins presenting effectively even within this moment where he seems to be getting along, there is a desperation within the playfulness. This suggesting that Anthony is trying to comfort himself while trying to accept this answer, showing the man actively fighting against his own state that seems to fighting against himself. Hopkins speaking on his daughter's attempts to save him is amazing. This as Hopkins is captivating in itself, but what is so much more is how much he makes this difficult state so natural and fluid within his performance. 

I think there even could have been a danger to making this just some showcase, but that's never the case here. Hopkins always expresses the very human qualities in creating the very potent anxieties of his Anthony's situation. When Anne arrives to the flat, which Anthony now has been told is not his, as a woman who is not his daughter, Hopkins's performance is absolutely heartbreaking. This as he speaks "Where's Anne" the break in his voice on the name is heart-wrenching. This as Hopkins in that moment creates Anthony having a realization that there is something desperately wrong with him for a moment before seguing so naturally again to him doddering off on something and trying to forget what it was that so pained him. He speaks to his daughter, who does not look like his daughter, with a lack of eye contact. This almost as he's not trying to notice that she is breaking his sense of his own reality. This speaking with an attempted distance against to feign some confidence in his own faculties, while just within this Hopkins carries such a sense of desperation just beneath his skin. There is such a quiet moment, another one that I love, as he asks if the place he is in is indeed his flat. Hopkins asks so genuinely searching for some answer but more so looking for some comfort. Hopkins depicting this difficult state as he shows Anthony trying, and really wanting so badly to be able to understand where he is or who he is speaking to. 

Every scene by Hopkins is tremendous in terms of both creating such a uniquely captivating portrait of a man in this state, but also so viscerally crafting the experience from this perspective. A moment where Anthony meets his new potential caregiver, who looks suspiciously like his other daughter, Hopkins is extraordinary again. This as he puts on the full charisma the man is capable of, and in turn we get Hopkins at his most charismatic. This as he introduces himself with such a spry manner of Anthony in a potential moment of clarity, or at least trying to present himself as such. Hopkins is having the right kind of fun in the moment, and actually is quite fun. This in bringing so much energy suddenly as he invites the new girl for a drink. Hopkins is beaming with life in this moment just ready to introduce himself as the best version of himself. Even this though as he comments on the sobriety of his wife, and his other daughter his drifting off Hopkins suggests blanks he's not quite sure of yet is trying to dismiss in his ramblings. Absolutely love the moment of him claiming to be a dancer to the caregiver, Hopkins is so charming in explaining this and his little tap dance is a kind perfection as delivered by Hopkins. This as Hopkins could not be more endearing in a singular moment. This though when suddenly comparing to his daughter though, you see Hopkins other side of the performer as easily. This swapping to strict intensity and even terror as he notes the girl laughs inanely like his daughter. Even as claiming like a joke, that intensity Hopkins summons in a notice is incredible. Of course what is most incredible though is how Hopkins makes it this kind of natural wavelength of reaction of the man trying to navigate the situation, trying to control it in his own way, which in the moment is both to seem so likable, while also so hate able at a seconds notice. 

As the situation becomes more isolating, and our perspective more isolated to Hopkins, Hopkins's performance gradually presents this state of mental degradation. What is so devastating in this is Hopkins actually doesn't just present this as a one note sorrowful note. This as he does have a certain mischievous quality at times when Anthony is trying to construct things a certain way for himself. Hopkins is the best kind of cheeky even in his physical manner of poking his head to look at another male stranger's wrist. Hopkins asking about it with this certain cagey questioning. Hopkins is even actually amusing in this moment at first in the questions, just as you see also a painful fixation on trying to construct his world by insisting his missing watch is due to someone else's theft, not due to him losing a grasp on his memory. Hopkins conveying so effectively this idea of the man attempting to navigate the world as he knows it, and it is astonishing how vividly he is able to express this. This in attempting to assure some thought. When visiting the doctor, his insists on telling the story he thinks he knows is with this repeated syncopation in his delivery. This in trying to keep consistent within his mind, and a certain satisfaction when it seems like he is able to convince others of his version of the story. It is so powerfully done as Hopkins finds this combination between this false confidence that is betrayed by a desperation that is constantly needling at that attempted confidence. 

Hopkins's performance here is masterful in multiple ways though. This as great as he is with the louder moments, he is as great in the quieter ones. This as just the observing man trying to decipher what is going on. Just the way he observes in this attempt to sometimes ignore the strangeness of his situation, but others in where a sense of fear begins to take him. Hopkins's expressions are worthy of a classic Ingmar Bergman performance in expressing so much complexity in this distress. Hopkins blending between a man truly enfeebled by his situation as he is just trying to decipher it, but also trying to fight against it. This in trying to figure out through his confusion where Hopkins expresses this unpleasant emotional hostility to his very existence. There is a weight within Hopkins work of the pressure of the world that seems to slowly become all the more sinister and hostile towards him. The more confusing it all becomes the greater the constriction within Hopkins's portrayal of the man wanting so badly to stave off what it is that seems to be destroying him. Hopkins leaves no reaction to be just that. This even in a moment of seeing a boy playing with a bag, the simplicity of the moment adding some genuine calm in his life with such a poignancy found in Hopkins's expression of this minor bit of happiness and respite. This opposed to when the first male stranger returns and pesters him and physically abuses him. Hopkins shows the man fighting against this and is all the more devastating for it. This by showing him failing by falling into misery, is a terrible sight and quite frankly horrifying to watch in the moment. Hopkins falling into such dismay and revealing the scared man behind every else. Hopkins is amazing by so quietly just internalizing the distress, and showing the man just shrinking in himself to avoid this sorrow.

Now this would already be an outstanding performance. All on its own. This as Hopkins just embodies all the role demands, which is a great deal, but he really does all the more. This as every tricky emotion, he captures. Every difficult situation of the ever changing mind of the man, Hopkins embodies while never losing a singular truth at its core. This in not only playing with honestly everything we've come to expect from Hopkins, that being a great actor, but also some things we might've never quite seen from him. This is perhaps the performance Anthony Hopkins has been waiting to play his whole life. This as it has everything in it that makes him great, yet there's still more he gives us.acting in terms of the depth of character and vividness of the scenario he expresses here. I honestly believe you could take any moment Hopkins has here, and find brilliant  That though, is still without mentioning his final scene. This as Anthony finds himself no longer living in his own flat, or his daughter's flat, he finds himself just in a nursing home, visited by a sympathetic female nurse, while also briefly interacting with a quietly sinister male nurse. The former though goes to comfort him and explain his situation now, being only occasionally visited by his daughter, and left alone in the care of the nursing home workers. Hopkins's performance now depicts a vulnerability, I frankly didn't know he had in him, and I've always felt Hopkins to be immensely talented. Hopkins expressing first the confusion that is all the more penetrative. This in a moment first trying every trick he still has in his mind to fight it. Hopkins now delivery these in rapid succession, though all the more desperate of an act than ever before as Anthony is trying anything to change the situation he is in one last time. Hopkins still speaking as a man trying to negotiate the situation yet in his delivery it is even more of struggle to try to speak these alterations he wants to his reality. This overwhelming fear though that Hopkins begins to seed within his expression as the truth begins to dawn as he draws closer to a kind of acceptance. His question as this sporadic attempt to just try to hold on for just a second longer. Hopkins showing this progression of the breakdown in this astonishing realization. His mind slipping and the anxiety gripping him. Hopkins showing the man losing all hold and falling into that acceptance. This as Hopkins reverts to a physical near a fetal manner, in his eyes falling into such sorrow, and his crying for his "mommy" being one of the most heartbreaking moments I've ever seen honestly. Hopkins losing his mind is terrifying to watch as he is so convincing in showing the man regressing to the state of a child. A moment that in the wrong hands could've fallen flat, yet is distressing through Hopkins's masterful work. This in seemingly losing himself entirely within the role, finding this man so lost that he's just grasping on all that he has left, and that only being the memory of his childhood. Hopkins's expresses this as a truth, and frankly it is hard to witness, because of how real Hopkins is in this breakdown. Hopkins is phenomenal, beyond belief really, as his performance shows all that there is to this man, and all that there is left. His cries growing fainter, as these final gasps of a dying man trying to find the only solace he has left. This portrait of man mind's draining from him, which he finds all the nuance, all the complexity, and all the heart-wrenching humanity within it. This is transcendent work by Anthony Hopkins, and the greatest work I have seen from the great actor.