Green leaves in the last scene of The Father [2020]

Towards the end of the 2020 film The Father, Anthony Hopkins' protagonist, who is suffering from dementia complains "I feel as if I am losing all my leaves". My take is that it is a reference to him losing his memories or the reliability of his memories.

Yet the film ends with a scene that shows trees full of green leaves. What's the point of this last scene?

Best Answer

As explained by Florian Zeller, the French director and co-writer of the film:

“It's a line that means nothing. ‘I'm losing all my leaves', and at the same time, you understand exactly what it means,” he explains. “And in a way, it was the sum of what I wanted the audience to experience through that film, meaning that you are not understanding what is going on, and at the same time, on another level, emotionally, you understand everything.

“It was the whole journey I wanted the audience to go through in this labyrinth. Trying to understand with your brain, understanding that you're not capable of understanding everything. To let it go. To understand everything with your heart.”