Amour
Dir: Michael Haneke
2012
*****
I've long thought it would be nice to see an older couple in a modern love story, surely a couple that have lived and loved together is even more romantic than a couple who meet for the first time. Thankfully one of the best directors in the world thought so too. The idea is sound but is difficult to like, it is heartbreaking but the turn of events are very real. Without wanting to spoil the ending, everything that is done in this film is out of love. Meeting a girl for the first time, buying her flowers etc is not love, bathing your frail wife of 40 years because she has just wet herself is love. Both my grandparents moved in with me when they were in their final years and I had to do things most grandsons don't, I did it out of love. That said, I had reason to love my grandparents, they were lovable. I know many people who put parents in homes, often because they can't look after them but also because they don't love them. My point, and criticism of this film is that the couple in question never came across as people I could care for, ill or old. The acting from the great Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva is second to none but I think the overall film and the conclusion would have been far more effective had they have been nice characters. That said, I'm well aware of how people can change when they loose all Independence. Maybe I liked the film but just wanted Mike Leigh to direct, I don't know, but I do think Michael Haneke has relied on his previous success a little and hasn't polished this production as well as he could have.