Review of Amour (2012) by Jacob F — 02 Feb 2013

It's almost impossible to watch if you've ever had someone you've loved slowly pass away. The initial problem I had with the film was that I expected something more cynical or political from Haneke as this is more straight ahead naturalism than I had expected from him.

A point of departure here may be Bergman's Saraband, another film about the end of life in which music plays an important part. This film is more honestly frustrated with the process of death, but feels like its treading in areas where Bergman already went, and did so more profoundly.

Then again, Haneke's intervention here is resisting the profound, though the end of the film seems to go against such a resistance.