The Father

A series of vignettes, often building upon themselves, is presented from the perspective of Anthony, an elderly Londoner, in his home. The next in the series often contradicts the previous, leading to the question of what is real and what is in Anthony's mind, possibly of things from his past that are no longer, in the one thing that is certain: that Anthony suffers from Alzheimer's. Those vignettes that are not from his perspective show what is real in his life: that he has an adult daughter Anne and that Anthony has only recently moved in with her and her husband Paul in Anthony driving away the caregivers that Anne had hired for him when he lived on his own. While Anne loves her father, their relationship is often strained in his waning lucidity and the negative effect his constant presence is having on her marriage. Her ability to carry out a life independent of him is compromised if she cannot find further support in care for him. She doesn't want to take the final step of having him placed in a home, but she may have no other alternative if his situation worsens or if her own personal situation, irrespective of him, changes.—Huggo