Watching Amour

I had this film for a long time in my watchlist and finally we bought it. Amour is truly heartbreaking but mesmerizing at the same time. It isn't a pathetic over acted movie, as many can be found nowadays, no, it shows you in a straight and honest way what age does to you and even more important how your beloved ones cope with it.

Now to the plot: Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) are a couple of retired music teachers enjoying life in their eighties. However, Anne suddenly has a stroke at breakfast and their lives begin to change drastically. Having that stroke that paralyzes her right side leads to the decline of her mental and physical health as Georges attempts to care for her at home as she wishes. He had to promise her that no matter what happens he will not take her to a hospital.
As Georges cares for Anne with the help of nurses who tend to her three times a week Anne's defiance keeps growing until she even neglects spoons of soft food or a sip of liquid. Her eyes are full of emotions, which we can only guess. Pleading? Resignation? Or maybe just pure Emptiness?  In the end, George, with his love fighting against his own weariness and diminished future on top of Anne's, is driven to make some critical decisions for them both.

Even though some other people appeared throughout the movie, you can easily consider Amour a two-character drama. And the main reason why this movie is so convincing in its simple yet powerful scenes is because Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva are acting so marvelous that you don't even feel as you would watch a movie. Actually you feel like a quiet observer who sees not only the film but also the realities of many people's lives.

Now, after watching the Making of too, you realize that this film by Michael Heineke is a personal film. The apartment resembled his apartment from his childhood, so he would know the exact structure of it.
What really thrilled me were those long tracking shots of the apartment, as we followed a character. The only way you can describe those tracking shots is perfect, honest and authentic. The sometimes longer scenes of a simple, daily thing might not be for everyone's taste, but in my opinion they're really down-to-earth and give the film such a pure feeling.


Conclusion

The film has truly deserved to have won so many prizes including "Palm d'Or" from the 65th Cannes film festival. This beautifully-handled, deeply devastating work is surely not for everybody, because it is so purely showing life as it is, with having its slow but beautiful moments.

The sad French walrus gives 90% on his Watch-O-Meter filled with French wine.