Michael Haneke’s (Cache, The White Ribbon) film Amour has been generating a ton of buzz since it won the Palm D’Or at this year’s Cannes Festival. Figuring that it will like garner a nomination for best foreign film this year (Austria), and possibly some acting nods, I thought I should take a look at it to see what all the fuss was about. Knowing nothing about the film except that it was about an elderly couple, I went in with an open mind and came out wishing I hadn’t wasted my time.
Amour’s plot is pretty basic. An elderly couple, Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva), live a seemingly happy life as retired music teachers when tragedy strikes; Anne has a stroke and the right side of her body is left paralyzed. With the film opening with a corpse and then going back in time, the rest of the film is essentially one long death sequence, focusing on the husband’s day to day caring of his wife, the emotional toll it takes on both of them and how they cope with it. Throw in some family members and friends that come and go and that’s the entire movie.
For a film that’s generated so much positive buzz, it most definitely isn’t for everyone. Though written and directed by a German, this French language drama most certainly feels very French in every sense of the word. It’s long, slow and it takes its time. It’s a movie about the elderly and not only does it move as fast as they do, which is pretty slow, but it’s also as mundane as most elderly lives tend to become. I hate to say this as it makes me sound like an impatient young punk, but Amour is a movie by old people, for old people and is something aging art house critics would eat up, hence the glowing reviews.
Imagine watching your 80 year old Grandparents, one of whom can’t get around on their own and the other, though loving, is slowly starting to have their patience tested. Imagine how repetitive those days are and imagine watching the other progressively get sicker. Let’s take scenes from random days over a period of time, edit them together and that’s this movie. Depressing and dreary, isn’t it?
The film lacks a score and the only music comes from when someone is actually present playing the piano or have pressed play on their stereo. The lack of any sort of score is what keeps the film from moving any faster, but it’s also what keeps it grounded and realistic making it an accurate portrayal of life itself.
What really bothered me about Amour is that it could have been at least 20 minutes shorter and it would have been the same EXACT film. Every shot, every scene was at least 30-60 seconds too long. There is no need to show someone cutting flowers off a stem for over a minute. I like to think I’m a pretty patient moviegoer but I don’t need to see extended scenes of seemingly daily routine
s, it’s tedious and annoying. Furthermore, there is nothing exciting or stimulating about the film minus a freaky nightmare scene and when Georges smacks his paralyzed wife (it was shocking and almost funny, in a sick way). You know what’s going to happen within the first 10 minutes which made caring about either character that much more difficult for me (I gave up after 20 minutes).
Putting all my personal annoyances aside for a moment, it is clear Haneke was going for a slow burning drama about what it’s like for elderly couples to watch their loved one slowly drift into the afterlife. I can’t relate to it but for those that can it has to be pretty powerful stuff. The performances that Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva give are honest and authentic, they are this film.
I can appreciate the film for what it is and what it was going for but I am not the target demographic and had too much trouble trying to put myself in the shoes of elderly folks. I get the film but it just isn’t for anyone under the age of 45, though realistically 60. If you’re a film fan and are all about watching awards contenders then you don’t really have a choice in the matter, otherwise don’t waste your time watching something that you might experience later in life, it’s depressing.
Youthful Rating: Like many elderly folk, it’s unfortunately slow, boring, and very hard to relate to, but at least it has good acting (5.5/10)
Elderly Rating: An accurate and depressing look at a very real life possibility (7.3/10)
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