When I saw it halfway through, I was thinking, the Chinese translation of the Chinese name "Father Trapped in Time" is really clever. The English name The Father only shows the identity of one of the protagonists, the father, and the attributive "trapped in time" in the Chinese name still exists. Corresponding to Anthony's Alzheimer's disease, as a patient with Alzheimer's disease, he was trapped in the labyrinth of time with a chaotic memory. The design and structure of the non-linear narrative of the whole film are also very consistent with the phrase "trapped in In time", different people come and go in the apartment, the same events are repeated in different places, the mysterious time and place character story traps the protagonist, no wonder he keeps looking for his watch, in fact, for stay awake. Alzheimer's disease trapped the protagonist in time, and the director also trapped the audience in time. It was not until the end that the answer was finally revealed. It turned out that these were all confused memories in the old man's mind.
After watching it, I felt that this was a movie that I was destined to watch again, because I didn't understand it, and after reading a few analytic movie reviews, I still didn't fully understand it. The timeline in my mind after reading it myself is roughly the same as the timeline of Gaozan movie reviews, but there are some details that I didn’t notice at the time. After reading other people’s movie reviews and thinking about the plot, I realized that the chair that suddenly appeared at home turned out to be in a nursing home. In the scene, the first time Anthony was in the kitchen, the plastic bags on the table were bought by Anne, and the last phone call Anne made, I didn't realize the doctor when I saw it. It was the doctor of the nursing home, and he wondered why he made a phone call and did not speak. After the transition, the house was empty and the old man was in the nursing home. It turned out that he decided to send his father to the nursing home after an argument. Looking back now, when Anne first went to the old man's apartment, the door of the apartment that appeared was very similar to the door of the nursing home that appeared later, so Anthony asked her "Did you forget your keys?"
There are three scenes in this film, the old man's own apartment, the daughter's apartment, and the nursing home. The layout of each scene is almost corresponding, and the layout is very similar. The director is implying that Anthony has been in the nursing home all the time. The content of the film Except for the last paragraph, it all happened in the past, but this foreshadowing is really hard to understand. Hahahahaha, I was so confused at first, I opened the barrage and looked at it before I realized that this is the perspective of the old man, he His memory is already chaotic, and the story presented from his perspective is of course chaotic, but in the later stage, the whole story line will be gradually understood. At first, the old man lived in his own apartment, and then he fell out with the nurse and moved to his daughter and daughter. The apartment where the son-in-law lived, then the son-in-law was dissatisfied with him, the daughter and son-in-law quarreled, James may have beaten the old man, and then the daughter divorced and took care of the father alone, and then five years later the daughter met Paul and went to Paris, and the father and Laura also After falling out, he had to send his father to a nursing home.
In fact, there are still many details that have not been clarified, such as whether Laura is Lucy or not, when the father and son-in-law were arguing, why did the daughter not take the watch as soon as she found it (is it really for cooking? But she was in a daze), James Whether he hit him or not, whether Paul and him have met or not, when the quarrel was the man James or Paul, and after the quarrel, did he get a divorce or decided to go to Paris (as mentioned by other film critics, there is a hint of a daughter touching her father's cheek here) She didn't leave her father behind, she divorced and took care of her father alone. This happened in reality, and from the audience's point of view, that is, her father's point of view, she saw that her father was sent to a nursing home after the quarrel), it feels like no matter which point of view it is, it seems It all makes sense, but in fact, after reading it, it doesn't matter if you don't fully understand it. What matters is not the details, but what the director really wants to express.
Through the design of the non-linear narrative, the director let the audience experience the psychological confusion and helplessness of Alzheimer's patients, Anthony's sentence "I feel as if I'm losing all my leaves", and finally because of memory confusion. It was really heartbreaking when I burst into tears, crying and crying to go home and find my mother. When I watched it, I couldn't help but think, if my family members or myself suffer from Alzheimer's disease in the future, it would be very uncomfortable. The patients lose their memory day after day and cannot take care of themselves. People who don't even remember themselves, how sad, I hope better drugs can be developed, alas.
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