Review of 45 Years (2015) by Randy C — 19 Oct 2018

Andrew Haigh is one of the most talented film directors we have today. He directed the amazing film WEEKEND (which breathed new life into gay cinema) the series LOOKING on HBO and the final movie LOOKING on HBO.

I have been waiting and desperately wanting to see his film 45 YEARS for quite awhile now. 45 YEARS has finally showed up on Netflix.

45 YEARS is a quiet stunner of a film. The film reminds me of the more subtle films of the late/great Ingmar Bergman (minus the extreme close up shots) with 2 very fine performances from Tom Courtney and Charlotte Rampling. But let's be honest, its Charlotte Rampling's quietly perfect performance that's the best thing about this film. Charlotte plays a woman happily married for 45 years getting ready to celebrate her and Tom's with a huge party. An in expected letter arrives about Tom's first girlfriend who has been found dead after a fall into a fissure when her and Tim where traveling when they were in their twenties. So over the course of a week we watch a woman slowing doubtimg that the love/45 Year marriage she has been happy in may not have been the perfect union she thought it was and her husband may not have been the man she thought she knew.

Delicate and bruising, it's quite a quietly moving performance.

This movie does not have to stoop to histrionics or violence. No divorce. No big final gestures. What you get is a subtle yet devastating and unforgettable performance of a woman pulling away from the husband she thought she knew for 45 years.

If you have Netflix. Check it out.

This is a movie that stays with you and makes you think. I will probably watch it a second time to catch some of the subtleties I may have missed.

Miss Rampling definitely deserved her 2016 Oscar Nomination and other nominations and awards for her unforgettable performance.

BTW: If you remember the young extremely beautiful Charlotte Rampling ...she still looks amazing!