Father makes you reflect on human behaviour—our capacity to forget, our instinct to endure—and gently asks what we might do in the same situation. How would we react? And is it even humanly possible to leave one’s own child behind?
Directed by Tereza Nvotová and presented at the 33rd EnergaCAMERIMAGE, Father (Otec) is an emotionally intense drama that explores guilt, grief, and the fragility of family bonds. It tells us the story of Michal, a man whose life is shattered after he experiences forgotten baby syndrome, unintentionally leaving his infant daughter in the back seat of his car. The story based on true events which shook the Slovakian city of Nitra, and made people wonder how could a father forget his own child in the backseat of his car and let her be burnt during the hottest day? This Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland co-production hits you in the gut with its immersive narrative style, powerful performances, and striking cinematography.
The story follows the life of Michal, portrayed fantastically by actor Milan Ondrík, who captures the soulful and harrowing experience of a father, a man caught between love, guilt, and despair. The actor exudes the raw emotional vulnerability of trying to understand his grief and his loss of his own child. The anguish and pain when he realises that he has forgotten his daughter in the car, and his shouting, “I have killed her” hit you the hardest. While we see his struggle of coming to terms with it in long takes to let the tensions become a visual feeling, performance by actress Dominika Morávková, as Michal’s wife Zuzka, complements this with a performance that conveys the strain and complexity of a marriage under unimaginable pressure.
This heavy emotional rollercoaster is handled with boldness and intimacy by director Tereza Nvotová, who wowed the audience at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this year. Her stylistic choice of direction of taking long takes blurs the distance between character and audience, making every moment feel immediate and visceral, almost like an immersive video game grounded in harsh reality. She highlights emotional authenticity, requiring technical precision and raw performances that contribute to the film’s powerful resonance of the psychological and emotional turmoil of the father.
The cinematography by Adam Suzin is most essential to the film’s atmosphere. The camera follows Michal in sweeping, uninterrupted shots that capture the claustrophobia of his life unravelling and the alienation he experiences both internally and socially, using observational intimacy that heightens the emotional impact without resorting to melodrama, emphasizing the banality and horror of Michal’s ordeal. The visual composition and pacing reinforce the sense of disorientation and isolation, key themes throughout the film.
One can see that Father is a profound study of human fragility; combination of outstanding acting, innovative direction, and immersive cinematography crafts an intense, emotionally raw exploration of a tragedy rarely seen on screen, enough to move the audience, leaving you thinking of the film after it is over.
