Father’s Day is celebrated on Sunday. What dads want, have to, and are allowed to do is constantly rebalanced in the cinema. Five films about the joy and sorrow of fatherhood, to imitate or to be ashamed of others.
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Force majeure
By Ruben Östlund, 2014
To see on Mubi
Sad but true: while mothers in the film were long reduced to their role in the family, the opposite was often the case with fathers. Most of the time, the man was first and foremost a man, and then, when he wasn’t busy elsewhere, maybe a (part-time) dad on the sidelines too. Difficult relationships between fathers and their offspring (keyword: “Star Wars”) were featured far more often than being a father itself, with all its joys, sorrows and confusions. The fact that a lot has happened in this regard is also due to the longstanding willingness of the cinema to take a closer look at male role models.
Prime example: Ruben Östlund’s satirical drama “Force Majeure”. A couple from Sweden goes on a skiing holiday in France. When an avalanche falls on their rest stop, the paterfamilias takes flight. Without a wife, without children. Fortunately it was a false alarm. But the damage is done. How does trust work now? Can this certificate of cowardice be forgiven? Can dad restore his manhood? Or realign? Maybe by standing by his feelings? Östlund pursues these questions in meticulously timed, often highly comical scenes. (and)
The Road
By John Hilcoat, 2009
See it on Amazon
Fathers are protectors, this is the message of countless genre films, from western classics to revenge rippers à la “Taken”. In a cruel and merciless world, it is up to them to defend defenseless offspring against dangers and predators of all kinds, if necessary (and it is always necessary in these films) with brute force. John Hillcoat’s Cormac-McCarthy film “The Road” with Viggo Mortensen, which is faithful to the original, also uses these motifs in the context of a desperate father-son search for oases of survival in an apocalyptically parched desert. But the film uses the cliché as a springboard for a meditation on the existential value of love in dark times. (and)
Pappa ante portas
Vicco von Bülow, 1991
Watch it on Netflix
The purchasing manager Lohse is retiring. “You are always at home all morning now?” Asks his wife. Yes, says her husband – and in the afternoon too, by the way. From now on, Mr. Papa would like to make his experience as a graduate engineer available to his family free of charge. Just like his cooking skills: Now there are Königsberger Klopse from the can! No wonder family peace is soon in jeopardy. With his usual fine sense of humor, Loriot lovingly but precisely targeting the quirkiness of an aging father forged by German life in his second cinema masterpiece, and with it the whole petty middle class mentality (not only) of his country. (and)
Fathers & Daughters
By Gabriele Muccino, 2015
See it on Sky
Gabriele Muccino, on the other hand, is very serious about his father-daughter story. After her mother dies, Katie grows up alone with her loving father, Jake. Since the accident he has suffered from psychotic episodes that put him in the psychiatric ward and Kate in the care of her aunt. A bitter struggle for the child begins. In flashbacks and flashbacks, the film also focuses on the emotional emptiness of the adult Katie, who searches for buried feelings with one-night stands. “Fathers and Daughters” is not suitable as a psychological drama – the story is too bold and superficial. But there are moments when Amanda Seyfried (Katie) and Russel Crowe (Jake) touch the heart. (iw)
The fatherless
By Marie Kreutzer, 2011
To see on Flimmit
Many movie heroes always have trouble with their father. Sometimes he is overwhelmed with them. Or never really there for them, as in many of Steven Spielberg’s films. Sometimes he’s a bit overprotective, like Viggo Mortensen in “Captain Fantastic”. And sometimes he’s just an irresponsible guy, like in Shia LaBeouf’s autobiographical development novel “Honey Boy” (Sky). But you can deal with that in the worst case. The real challenge is reconciliation with the raven father, if it is possible at all. Mortensen deals with this motif in his directorial debut “Falling”, which is currently showing in our cinemas.
But local film artists also like to take it up. In an interesting way, for example, Marie Kreutzer in her first feature film “The Fatherless”. Whereby the competence of the title father is up for debate. He is played (in flashbacks and on his deathbed) by Johannes Krisch. Once head of a commune, he gave birth to many children. A handful of whom return to the farm of their youth to find answers to pressing questions before the producer dies. While some glorify their dad, others feel deprived of a normal home. (and)
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