Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple's bond of love is severely tested.
Whether or not you need to be lectured on the uselessness of movie tears, the performances of the two astonishing French actors in Amour makes this a gripping and possibly provocative drama.
While Haneke's trademark intelligence and rigour is apparent in every frame, the compassion he shows towards these characters feels new.
The cool-headed, almost documentary-like picture is boring for long stretches and didn’t move me at all.
In some ways, Amour is a characteristic Michael Haneke film, unflinching, beady-eyed, beholden to nothing but itself. And yet it’s also touched by something unexpected. Who would have thought this film-maker had such tenderness in him?
A painful chamber drama about the aftermath of a stroke for an octogenarian couple, Michael Haneke's second Palme d'Or winner still has his trademark chill.
The ageing process is just another indiscriminate threat, as brutal and unreasonable as the home invaders in Funny Games. For Haneke, love isn’t a comfort; it’s a death sentence.
The acting from these two legends of French cinema is quite superb.
Michael Haneke’s Palme D’Or winner is uncomfortable, uncompromising, unflinching... and utterly unmissable. Old age may not be a reality you wish to confront, but you must see this film.
Is Amour a ‘perfect’ film? Yes, but maybe not in a good way.
The entire enterprise is like a stunning ice sculpture, a thing of wonder yet fundamentally cold to the touch.
If you're adult enough to watch it, then you'll find Amour a profound and bracing experience – and one that, like it or not, will tell you more about your life (yes, yours, sooner or later) than you'd imagine cinema would ever dare.
Michael Haneke's effortlessly graceful picture will come to be seen as one of the greatest films about the confrontation of death and ageing.
Quite simply, this is flawless cinema, addressing the obscurity of love and questioning the weight of its worth.
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Throwing new light on the pains and emotions of old age
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee from Friday November 23, 2012, until Thursday December 6, 2012. More info: www.dca.org.uk
Cameo, Edinburgh from Friday February 15, 2013, until Wednesday February 20, 2013. More info: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday February 22, 2013, until Sunday February 24, 2013. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com