(Reuters) – Oscar-winning Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman’s team tell the complex story of depression in the new film “The Father,” which opens to a limited audience in New York and Los Angeles on Friday.
Written and directed by Florian Zeller, Hopkins and Colman play a father and daughter in the film about family, love and loss, bringing an audience into the mind of someone dealing with depression. .
“I’ve never seen anything written from that side,” Colman said. “But to be so upset and to be with him in his controversy, to go suddenly, oh, that’s how he feels. It was just brilliant. ”
“I was very happy. And I thought it was such an original and beautiful way of trying to express this, this broken situation, ”said Colman.
In his first feature film, the French director said he hoped audiences would allow them to understand the film at a higher and emotional level.
“I wanted people … to open their hearts to just feel with this real human feeling,” Zeller said.
“The Father” was first released as a play in 2012, with award-winning productions in France, London and New York. A French version of the film was made in 2015.
The film will have a limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on February 26, with a broader debate on March 12 before hitting streaming services on March 26.
“Florian is so brilliant in the first ever famous film. It’s better than most directors after their tenth year, but it’s so calm and relaxed, ”said Colman.
Reporting by Alicia Powell; Written by Diane Craft; Edited by Rosalba O’Brien