Script Analysis: ‘The Father’ — Part 4: Themes

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: Themes.

I have this theory about theme. In two parts. First, a principle: Theme = Meaning. What does the story mean? Second, while there is almost always a Central Theme, there are multiple other Sub-Themes at play in a story. Therefore the question: What does a story mean takes on several layers of meaning?

Time to ponder themes in The Father. You may download the script here.

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: Explore the themes in the movie. What is its Central Theme? What are some of the related Sub-Themes?

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.

A scene from the movie:

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

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

For Part 3, to read the Character 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.