Script Analysis: ‘The Father’ — Part 3: Characters

Read the script for this Oscar-winning drama dealing with the mental decline of a family’s patriarchal figure.

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this bi-weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule:

Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Dialogue
Saturday: Takeaways

Today: Characters.

Characters are the players in our stories. They participate in scenes, move the plot forward through action and dialogue, influence each other, evolve and change. Each has their own distinct backstory, personality, world view, and voice. When a writer does their best, digging deep into their characters, tapping into their souls, the players in our stories magically lift up off the printed page and come to life in a reader’s imagination.

But there’s this: In a screenplay, characters exist for a reason. Hence my principle: Character = Function. Writers can shade and shape a story’s character in limitless ways. But if you dig down deep enough, you can find each character’s narrative function, and that can become a lens through which you develop the players in your stories.

Same thing with script and movie analysis: Look at each character and think about why they exist and what their function is.

This week: The Father. You may download the script here.

A list of the key players:

· ANTHONY is about 80. He lives on his own in London. He was an engineer and has two daughters, ANNE and LUCY.

· ANNE is ANTHONY’s older daughter. She’s a translator, working in London. In the absence of her sister, she looks after her father’s daily needs; she’s extremely attached to him.

· PAUL is a banker who’s worked in London for many years. He lives with ANNE.

· LAURA is a young carer of about 30. She glows with the freshness of youth.

· THE MAN is a stranger when he first appears. Eventually we learn his name is BILL and that he works in a care home.

· THE WOMAN is a stranger when she first appears. Eventually we learn her name is CATHERINE and that she works in a care home.

Screenplay by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller, based on Zeller’s play.

Plot Summary: A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.

Writing Exercise: Think about each character. What’s their function?

Major kudos to Aditya Raute for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown for The Father, go here.

Here is a Q&A with the film’s writer-director Florian Zeller and two of the actors: Olivia Colman and Anthony Hopkins.

For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here.

For Part 2, to read the Plot discussion, go here.

To access over 100 analyses of previous movie scripts we have read and discussed at Go Into The Story, go here.

I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: The Father.