Looking for a "hard-core" gerontological movie? Want an "in-your-face' drama about love, aging and dying? Never really seen what it takes to be old and face death in the eyes? Go see the movie Amour.
This French drama, written and directed by Michael Haneke, and starring Jean-Louis Trintigant, Emmanuelle Riva, and Isabelle Huppert - has all you can ask from a gerontological movie, and it is not easy to watch.
The movie is built in a retrospective manner: the opening scene - that of firemen and police breaking down into an apartment in Paris only to find the body of an old woman lying in bed - sets the stage to go several months backwards in time.
The story is a classic gerontological story: an aging couple in their 80s; the wife suffers a stroke; the medical treatment goes wrong and she becomes paralyzed on her right side and confined to a wheelchair; the husband becomes a full time caretaker; and as time, suffering and stress grow - the wife tells her husband she doesn't want to go on living.
While this may sound so ordinary to gerontological ears, there aren't too many popular movies who truly capture this hard and complex reality while keeping the viewers interested or related. The importance and success of Amour is its ability - without whistles or horns - to convey the meaning of love in old age under the shadow of illness, disability and fear of death.
A word of warning: this movie is not a "Hollywood" movie - it gives the viewers no "discounts" and no "happy endings"....
Year: 2012
France
Director: Michael Haneke
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7D-Y3T0XFA
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