The film is about an elderly couple, George and Anne, in Paris who used to be successful musicians and have always been proud and independent people. The film is absolutely realistic and captures what the other person must do and what they must sacrifice to help their loved one. In this case, Anne has several strokes and goes through an operation, which has a high rate of being successful however ends up paralyzed on her right side and depends on her husband for everything. Their daughter Eva, becomes isolated from the true situation that is going on with her parents, because they feel ashamed and embarrassed of being like this and mostly George does not want anyone to see his wife in such a horrible state. He closes in and does not want to receive any help that is offered, even from his own daughter. He made a promise to Anne that he would not bring her to the hospital, and he suffers from this decision. In the end he suffocates Anne by a pillow because he cannot stand to see her suffering any longer, fills the room with rose petals and locks the door and tapes it completely. This brings us back to the very beginning of the movie where the firemen come in, and find the room with petals in it, and a really bad smell. After, George finds a pigeon and instead of allowing him to fly away through the open window, he closes it and kills the innocent pigeon. He later procedes to kill himself to rejoin his wife.
Amour provides the realism of life as you become older. For the audience assisting the film, I became totally engrossed with the characters and could see what they were going through, and I could feel myself becoming sad, terrified, devastated according to what happened. The film is devastatingly tragic, because even though it does not contain violence, the emotions are so strong they become overwhelming. Old age will happen to everyone who does not die at a young age, and it is a terrifying thing that most of us do not really speak of. The film slightly reflects the French families in general, because once your child turns 18 they have their own life and you and your partner will have your life. It is not that much of isolation but more of independence and this can be seen with Eva and her parents. On another note, her father has to much pride to accept the help that is being offered and will not let his own daughter, Eva see her mother. That goes to show how negative the situation has made him and how it has changed him and degraded him as a person.
I usually find that in films/documentaries/videos, music seems to be the number one factor that achieves the true emotional feelings, if chosen correctly. Michael Haneke's music choice with the Impromptu that plays throughout the film is the kind of music that holds a hint of sadness as you listen to it, but also seems to contain hope. Nevertheless, when hearing the music in the film it adds to the sadness because you can see the difference in the situations. There were some parts, like at the beginning when the only sound is the water running from the tap in the kitchen, and then suddenly it's silent, and we know Anne is alive and has regained consciousness. There are other cases such as at the beginning when the firemen arrive and make such a loud noise with the door it startles you, or when George wakes up in the middle of the night after having had a nightmare and screams. All these sounds were chosen for a reason and we could go on analyzing the film detail by detail but then in my case it would remove some of the magic that is given to a film by a director.
This film was amazing, and I recommend everyone watches it once, but I do not think I would be able to watch it more than once because of the emotional hold the film has. It is not something I will be able to forget easily and that is where we can see how good a director is. The movie is PG-13 for the deaths, the illness, and the suffering therefore I do not recommend it for people undergoing a depression or who are younger than they should be. A certain level of maturity is needed when watching this film.
The New York Times article did a formidable job, capturing the details of the movie and its analysis was true in all possible ways. The Week gave a good overall review about what critics were saying of the film, and one of the best sayings that I saw from the Guardian's article on Amour and the one from The Week was the following: Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian, describes Michael Haneke's film as being "a moving, terrifying and uncompromising drama of extraordinary intimacy and intelligence. It asks what love means as we approach the end of our lives. 'This is film-making at the highest pitch of intelligence and insight.'"
Finally, I would like to say that the movie is honest, and Haneke does not try to hide the sadness that can exist when reaching an old age. In addition, the movie is a love story between George and Anne, and how love can bring you to make sacrifices to help those you love.
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