AMOUR – The Review

By its title you might believe that AMOUR is a big screen “hearts and flowers” romance concerning a couple embarking on a relationship. That’s partly correct, but this is no “cue the violins” heart-tugger. It’s a lot tougher than that. A lot. It is about a couple who have been together for decades who now must face their greatest challenge. Director Michael Haneke may be best known for FUNNY GAMES in which a couple were menaced by a couple of sadistic home invaders (Haneke also did an English language version). In his new film, the invader is more cruel and heartless than any of those thugs. You could say this new villain is time itself. And this film illustrates the adage attributed to the great Bette Davis, “Old age isn’t for sissies”.

AMOUR ‘s first shot (after a brief title flash-forward) is from a stage looking out on an appreciative audience at a piano recital. Backstage, the pianist Alex (Alexandre Tharaud) is greeted in his dressing room by his former music teacher Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) and her husband Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant). After making small talk the octogenarian couple take the bus back to their expansive Paris apartment home of many, many years. The next morning they go about their daily routines until Anne’s eyes become glazed and she doesn’t respond to Georges’s questions. This leads to a doctor’s visit followed by the first of many hospital stays for her. With each return home, her heath deteriorates. She loses the use of limbs and her speech to a series of strokes. Their grown daughter Eva (Isabelle Huppert) attempts to help, but the proud Georges will not impose on her new married life in England. The overwhelmed man is torn emotionally as the only love of his life drifts away. What to do, how to go on…?

Such a simple, intimate story needs two terrific actors to draw us in. Riva has been rightly been awarded many accolades (including a Best Actress Oscar nom) for her restrained, sensitive work as Anne. In the opening sequences she breezes through the apartment  with more energy than a woman half her age. And then it’s suddenly taken away. The light is almost extinguished. As her condition worsens Riva must communicate with us through her very expressive eyes. She’s sad, but still proud even as she can only speak in guttural grunts and groans. The mind is still there, but the body has become her prison. Trintignant is more than equal to her find work here. In a way he two is trapped in this prison, which encompasses the home they shared for so many happy years. Not only does he have to take care of her needs (often forcing her to take nourishment), but he protects her from the pitying stares of the outside world. He even becomes ashamed of himself for losing his patience with Anne as she refuses to drink her water. And in one sequence he stands his ground against a callous care-giver (even in his 80’s, this man is not someone to trifle with). Above all he struggles to carry on, as one day begins to blur into the next. He doesn’t know if he’s got the strength to continue, but he must for his true “amour”. He scenes with Huppert crackle as he tries to assert his independence and assure her that they will not be a burden to anyone. Georges and Anne are completely,truly together “till death”.

Haneke uses no showy camera tricks to tell this tragic, but very familiar story. Although we’re in the apartment for most of the film, there’s no sense of claustrophobia. He lingers on the actors’ faces and captures every raw emotion. One nightmare sequence foreshadows the true nightmare their lives will become. At one point a bird makes its way into the outer entrance area. Is it the desire for freedom or the impending scavenger of the couple’s remains? In one heartbreaking daydream Georges is stunned to see Anne whirling about the kitchen. But it is not real, she will never really return. AMOUR is a truthful examination of the part of love that’s not the subject of countless ballads and pop tunes. It’s emotionally brutal and unforgettable. Tough to watch, but it’s a subject which will touch every viewer.

4.5 Out of 5

AMOUR screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas