What I think The Father is about

This is all spoilers, so don’t read if you haven’t watched the movie.

I believe that the story actually takes place while Anthony is at the nursing him, and we are seeing his memories. Which are full of holes, so the scenes of the movie don’t always match up completely to what really happened. The memories aren’t entirely in chronological order, and some of them jumble up time periods.

I think what he’s wearing is supposed to be a clue to when the scene took place. In the earliest scenes he’s wearing an expensive-looking sports coat, then a cardigan, then a bathrobe, and then pajamas without a bathrobe.

I believe that Anne was married to that guy, Paul, and then when Anne had her father come live with them, this ruined their marriage because Paul couldn’t deal with it, and they got divorced. Anthony doesn’t remember anything about the divorce, so we don’t see any of that, nor do we see the long time period, I assume several years, between the time of the divorce, and when Anne moves to Paris to live with some new guy we don’t see in the movie, and also by this time her father is too far gone for her to be able to take care of him at home.

Anthony also had another daughter, Laura, who died in a car accident, but that part is pretty obvious.

Mistaking his caregivers, nurses and doctor for people he knew in the past, such as his son-in-law and his daughter, is something that people with Alzheimer’s do, and the movie tries to show that through Anthony’s point of view.