No, not a romantic trip to Suffolk’s favourite haunt for weekend Londoners with more money than sense, but a visit to the town’s cinema to catch the very fine French film “Amour”, directed by Michael Haneke…….
This has been out for a while so I’m relatively late to what is a wonderful film about love and ageing. An elderly couple living out the last few months of a lengthy marriage, the woman suffering a stroke and a slow but inexorable decline does not I admit sell itself as an “enjoyable” night out at a film theatre; and sure enough, enjoyable is not how I’d describe it.
It’s a truly great film about the confrontation of ageing and death, told with pathos but without sentimentality. Steadily, Anne’s (the wife) condition deteriorates. Her voice loses its strength, her focusing goes, carers are called in, one of whom has a vicious exchange with Georges (the husband). In one terrible moment of anger, Georges strikes her when she persistently refuses to eat, threatening the one thing they have cherished and most feared losing – their dignity. Even in this moment however, you never doubt the love and respect the couple have for each other.
There are occasional flashes of humour, but the overall mood of the film is a kind of graceful sadness, it that makes any sense. The beauty of the look of the film makes the occasional harrowing scene, such as the carer clinically washing a naked and incapacitated Anne, all the more harrowing. The two lead performances (Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva) are truly remarkable and, if there is any justice, should be suitably rewarded when the Oscars are being handed out.
At a time of the big budget blockbuster, it is edifying to see a film that demands concentration and involvement from its audience. When you leave the cinema you feel anger, sadness but also an admiration that in the end Georges had the courage to do what his love and devotion required of him. The film is, in the end, a truly uplifting experience that you feel all the better for seeing. A sometimes painful watch, but a truly rewarding and intensely moving one.