Father [+lire aussi :
interview : Tereza Nvotová
fiche film], because of its subject matter alone, is the kind of film many people will be afraid of. The good news is that they really shouldn’t be. Slovak director Tereza Nvotová takes something that could have been absolutely unwatchable and delivers an engaging, pulse-quickening drama instead. It’s really nothing short of a small miracle, happening right here on the Lido.

Premiering in Venice’s Orizzonti, Father is based on a true story – or multiple true stories, to be brutally exact. Without getting into too many details, a tragedy strikes. The life of a caring, ordinary father (Milan Ondrík) and those close to him will never be the same again. He becomes a villain overnight – to the people he knows and to perfect strangers, raging in the comments he’s stupidly browsing through at night.

Nvotová is interested in what happens next – what happens after your life is over? Where do you go, what do you do? Because here’s the kick – after the worst day of your life, an absolute nightmare, you wake up again in the morning. You are in the same flat, wearing the same clothes. They might even want you to fix some problem at work.

It’s not easy to show such an extreme change, and Ondrík is fantastic here. He’s a strong man, his Michal, and he likes his routines. He goes for a run, goes to work, he kisses his wife (Dominika Morávková) and picks up his baby daughter – you know, everyday stuff. He has his secrets, sure, but even his ex-wife (Aňa Geislerová) seems to still like him. When all of this suddenly ends, and he looks weak, it’s almost uncomfortable to watch. “Before, I looked for meaning. I don’t understand anything any more,” he says later, during the trial. There’s something about his quiet resignation that’s chilling – it’s also understandable to just about anyone who’s ever experienced loss. There’s no meaning. At this point, there’s just survival.

That’s probably Father’s single biggest accomplishment – its incredible empathy. It really tries to understand something that defies understanding, to forgive someone who doesn’t think he deserves forgiveness. It’s the work of a subtle director, someone who never allows herself to go to exploitative places just to torture the audience. So many directors these days keep saying “they make films for themselves”. This is a film made for others, respecting its real-life counterparts, its characters and its viewers.

Father is a Slovak-Czech-Polish co-production staged by Danae Production, moloko film and Lava Films. It is being sold overseas by Intramovies.