Review of Amour (2012) by Adrian Z — 29 Apr 2013

Harrowing, if not devastating depiction of how stroke induced illness slowly, but inexorably destroys the remaining life of an elderly woman (Riva). The "love" from the title is that which is given to her unconditionally by her husband (Trintignant), who bears the burden of caring for her at home a burden that eventually leads him to an act that may be both selfless and selfish at the same time.

Strong performances by the leads, but Michael Haneke's film is not easy viewing as it's subject matter and increasingly depressing tone cause feelings of melancholy and dread. In fact, it's a harsh movie and one wonders if at least some element of meaningful beauty or sentiment could have been extracted before the audience is left at the bottom of a barrel by its end.

Extremely basic production values may be basic to allow audiences to focus on performances, but I found them distracting: no frills cinematography (in fact some shots did not seem to be well composed), no music score to enhance emotions, scarce editing which led to lots of lingering shots and mundane everyday actions captured in detail on camera.

Exhausting.