His son, advertising photographer Pavel, who has driven out to his childhood hometown from the city where he works, arrives late to her funeral.

Sidling apologetically to the graveside through the thicket of more respectful mourners, he joins his stiffly resentful father Vasil by the open casket.

The evasions and falsehoods snow down thicker when Vasil’s unexpected interest in the gimcrackery of a local guru/charlatan, who claims to be able to commune with the dead, means that Pavel has to delay his return.

[3] Writing for Screen Daily, Demetrios Matheou found The Father to be "a supremely well-honed comedy, segueing between farce and satire".

[4] Anna Smith of Deadline Hollywood praised the film's comedic timing, but critiqued the lack of presence of its female characters.