About the work
Contemporary play by the French writer Florian Zeller, which premiered on 20 September 2012 at the Théâtre Hébertot in Paris with Robert Hirsch and Isabelle Gélinas in the lead roles.
Plot
The widowed André, suffering from advancing dementia, increasingly inhabits a world of memory gaps, spatial confusion and mistrust. His daughter Anne arranges help for him, which he resists. Through fifteen interlocking, sometimes contradictory scenes, the audience experiences the action from André's own perspective, in which reality and delusion become indistinguishable.
Cultural significance
The play won the 2014 Molière Award for Best Play as well as acting awards for Robert Hirsch and Isabelle Gélinas, and has since been performed in around 50 countries. Its 2020 film adaptation brought Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton the 2021 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.