Amour (2012) Review

When a foreign film receives both director and best picture nods at the Oscars, you know they are doing something right. Going into this film I kind of didn’t want to like it, simply because it stole Ben Affleck´s much deserved best director nomination, however to my great disappointed, this was brilliant.
With such strong characters, it is equally important with strong performances and these are some extraordinarily strong performances. Emmanuelle Riva, aged 85, gives a performance unlike anything I have seen all year. He life is slowly decaying after a stroke and her performances perfectly captures the depression and hopelessness of somehow who knows the end is near. Near the end when her character is at her lowest point, it becomes hard to watch, as her performance seems so incredibly real. Jean-Louis Trintignant, who seems to be getting overlooked when it comes to awards, gives a touching performance as a man desperately trying to make his dying wife happy.

From the first few scenes I could tell there was something genius about the film. The scene where we meet our main characters is just a long shot of an audience at a piano concert, showing everyone, not focusing in on anybody, and it was so interesting even though nothing happened, because of how in that short scene you got so many impressions from members of the audience. The film then silently introduces us to the relationship of these two people and their apartment, which we never leave after that opening sequence, as far as I recall.

Michael Haneke both writes and directs the film with perfection. The script is very excellent, making the characters and situation very believable and there were so many instances where dialogue sounded like something people I know would say. It is within the dialogue, and visual allegory, that he really tells the story. Within these devices he really fleshes out the characters giving enormous depth to both the main characters.

The film is very unpleasant and hard to sit through. Haneke uses mainly static shots that go on for quite some time. There are scenes where I felt like I had to look away because of the harshness of some scenes, yet I never quite managed to take my eyes of the screen.

It is a film that I may not ever be able to sit through again, but because of how masterfully written and directed it is and how uniquely it conveys human emotion, I feel it really has to be experienced by anyone who think they can manage. I fully sympathize with people who do not like this movie, as it was immensely painful to sit through and it really requires your full attention, but if you willing to make an effort, you´ll be rewarded with a masterpiece.

5/5