Pentatone Mon ami, Mon amour

In Amour wordt de liefde tussen de op leeftijd zijnde Georges en Anne op de proef gesteld wanneer Anne een herseninfarct krijgt. Georges probeert haar uit alle macht te verzorgen, maar wordt hierin fysiek en mentaal steeds meer tegengewerkt waardoor hij zelf in een insolement dreigt te geraken. Michael Haneke brengt ons een zeer menselijke film die enerzijds erg deprimerend is, maar anderzijds erg veel liefde uitspreekt. Dit innerlijk conflict weet hij op toepasselijke wijze over te brengen op de kijker. De beeld- en geluidskwaliteit van deze DVD-uitgave zijn prima. Alhoewel er niet veel extra’s zijn, hebben ze een behoorlijke speelduur en zijn ze zeer interessant.

Emanuelle Riva richly earns her Oscar nomination but be prepared to feel that you are trapped for two hours in a disturbing, depressing French nursing home. I found myself thinking of another, brilliant French-language film, "The Barbarian Invasions," which had some similar themes. It's not quite fair to compare that one in which the dying man is surrounded with a boisterous cast of characters to this one, so focused on the quiet twosome. But I wish that I'd had more of a sense of the meaning of Anne's life before I had to witness her awful decline.

What makes Michael Haneke one of the greatest living filmmakers is that his films only get better! Amour's great visual storytelling, subtle dialogue, and graceful cinematography made this film a true artistic masterpiece! Haneke provides a real and articulate story that is not pretentious or preachy. While some may condemn "Amour" for being tedious and morally ambiguous, the greatest stories are not told with quick editing, fancy cinematography, and booms and bangs! The greatest stories are told with grace, subtlety, and love.

Amour is a hard to follow film, but it is one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. It is very touching and also rough, because it is noticeable the point that true love can reach. The movie portrayed an old woman with hemiplegia cause by a vascular accident with progressive decrease of brain activity and the future of the marriage will fall to her husband. What this picture is doing, is trying to figure out what is love, using apart from the plot, the script, the cameras and the performances. That is why the movie is so slow, with static camera movements and with people that evaluate what they are doing, because you cannot rush love, it is about patience and understanding. Everything in the film is well prepared, Michael Haneke definitely did an excellent job in directing and the protagonist couple is just brilliant, but I think is more Jean-Louis Trintignant than Emmanuelle Riva.

Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva play a Parisian couple in their 80s. When she has an attack, he nurses her thru the final agonizing days. Michael Haneke is a skilled director, who's at his most stark and dispassionate, which translates into interminable pacing, uncompromising camera and oblique narrative. If you like watching the deterioration of a woman in a detached, heavy and bleak atmosphere, you may appreciate this well-acted but agonizing (in so many ways) examination. Call me shallow, but I wasn't moved.