Amour means love in several languages. This is a
French film. The love that this film deals with is the love of an old man for
his wife who is also of almost his age. She is incapacitated by a stroke due to
the shock of a robbery taking place in the house. The man Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant)
promises his wife Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) that
he would not put her in the hospital as she is afraid of doctors. Instead, he
looks after her delicately at home. However, things are not as simple as he
thinks they would be. She deteriorates day after day. Worse, she begins to get
more and more hysteric. He is painfully inadequate in dealing with such a
miserable situation. But he puts up with all that, because he loves his wife so
deeply. The end also looks more as a consequence of his love than anything
else.
Director: Michael Haneke
Film Clip
Amour is the official film
selected from Austria for this year’s Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film
category and is a front runner to win the award. The narration is melancholic
and the mood looks very depressing. But, each scene is delicately woven to portray
what true love means and what its burdens and consequences are. True love is
full of passion at one level; it is also full of pains at another. This seems
to be the message the film tries to put across.
The film has
very little embellishments except the fine performances by the lead characters,
especially Emmanuelle Riva. She is one of the strong contenders to win the best actress award.
The camera acts more as an observer than recorder of scenes, because each
moment seems so realistic. Finally, one cannot help but realise after watching
this film that, it is one thing to grow old gracefully, but quite different to
grow old together!
- Melwyn Pinto SJ
