Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Love at the End of the Road

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Love is Blue yet Beautiful in “Amour”

By Skip Sheffield

There has been a lot of critical buzz about “Amour,” which won the Palme D’Or at Cannes and is up for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It features two of France’s best, oldest actors, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, directed by Michael Haneke, who also wrote the story.
To say this is a sad love story would be understating the fact. Now in their 80s, Georges and Anne are still very much in love, living in their grand old, shabby-elegant Paris apartment. But as so often happens in old age, one of them suffers mental degeneration, and the other must become caretaker, with ever increasing difficulty.
“Amour” is infused with lovely, melancholy classical music, as both characters are musicians, as is their daughter Eva, played by Isabelle Huppert. Eva has problems of her own. She is separated from her husband, also a classical pianist.
“Amour” unflinchingly shows what happens when love is put to its ultimate test. Wonderfully acted, it is both sad and wistfully beautiful. Happy endings are never guaranteed, but love is worth savoring as long as it lasts.


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