Review of Amour (2012) by Favio V — 17 Feb 2013

Anguishing French film with more honesty and grittiness than any film you will see this year. It's the story of a long-wed couple named Anne & Georges, former music teachers, whose bonds of love are stretched & tested when Anne suffers a sudden and debilitating stroke. She makes her husband promise to never take her to the hospital again & he obliges.

The entire cast is amazing, in particular Emmanuelle Riva as Anne. Through her expressions she tells a story of her own without uttering a word. The performance is so deep she may well receive an Oscar nomination (very rare for a foreign film).

It's entirely accurate. To see the internal struggle of Georges as he does his best to care for his wife is touching indeed. At times it feels like a horror movie as we witness his nightmares and watch him bathe, feed, lift, console, and change his wife's dirty diapers. And you can see throughout the movie that Anne does not want to be alive anymore, not in that state. She has gone from a distinguished socialite to a baby, who cannot even make sense anymore. She shows her humiliation & disgust throughout. It's a terrible thing to witness, and it's great acting and brutal scenery make it intensely intimate as if we are peeking into somebody's terrible life, though we shouldn't be.

There is some very subtle symbolism, one involving a burglary, the other a trapped pigeon. When you think about it after viewing it all makes sense.

Is "Amour" entertaining? Not in the sense of having fun. But it's story of dying presents a tale of living & true love that resonates with you for days. It's surely a film I will never forget. It's truly stunning, for lack of a better word. Best Foreign Language winner at the Oscars this year, I can guarantee.