Review: Haneke Strikes Again with Amour (spoilers)

Amour concerns an elderly French couple in the Winter of their relationship starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva.  The opening shot is delicate, memorable, and haunting, as we stare into an audience looking right back at us, we see ourselves or the undeniable inevitability of what awaits.  The sweet-natured faces of the actors are simply devastating, just knowing the filmmaker behind the camera is never in the business to make the viewer feel good about him or herself.  Director Michael Haneke employs his trademark long takes and limited camera movement to convey the heart-wrenching tailspin both of the characters endure as the wife falls victim to the permanently debilitating effects of a stroke, becoming a vestige of her former self.  The two-hour-plus film is set entirely within the interiors of the couple's apartment, where they privately face their own personal Hell.  Trintignant and Riva offer stripped-down and truthful performances, including a climax that reduced this viewer to uncontrollable sobbing.  While the film tests the audiences patience, as Haneke's films always do, his painful style has never been more appropriate and necessary.  The film offers no easy answers, only, in this case, what was/is/can be/will be/etc.  What Haneke presents are very real people facing a very real issue, and the battle of wills which ensue in dealing with the pain and indignity of one losing their independence and sense of self in the process.  Honest, unflinching, Amour is not for the weak at heart or those who can't endure the long haul.  But, the generic title, Amour, couldn't be more descriptive or eloquent.  It is not a film I could right now say I would ever watch again, but it's a film that pulls no punches and offers us a reflection of reality and is shockingly profound.  Isabelle Huppert is also in the cast and reunites with Haneke as the daughter of the couple.

Oscar Chances
While discussing the film's odds with the AMPAS just seems tedious and inconsiderate, it's something that I consider for most every film I examine.  I don't hold very high hopes that the Academy will respond to this movie, but I remain extremely curious how things will play out.  On the surface, it has Foreign Language film in the bag.  It's Austria's entry, which is interesting, because it was filmed in Paris and the little language used is French.  But, it's a coproduction between France, Germany, and Austria.  This year, France has the formidable The Intouchables (which only made a blip stateside compared to the worldwide box-office sensation it was during 2012--and that's putting it mildly), so, by some technicality or other (I'm ignorant about these things), it got in.  And, frankly, I'm glad, because I find the one country/one film concept for the Foreign Language category to be obscenely restricting.  But, it's nice to see someone circumvent the rules for a worthy cause.  (Haneke's films are not a stranger to the strange rules of this category, and the fact that Amour got in appears to be a real coup, compared to previous years.)

Unlike The Intouchables, Amour is competitive in other categories, most so in Original Screenplay, where it just may nab a nomination, and would be the first time a Haneke film was able to land somewhere outside of the Foreign Language category.  Less competitive, but still a possibility are the Best Actress category, and, to a lesser extent, Best Actor, Director, and, then, Picture.  This is arguably one of Haneke's more accessible films.  It's modern and many people, especially an assortment of Academy members, can relate to the plight of the characters.  The director's style is as opposite of emotionally manipulative you can imagine, however.  Very little music, except within the context of the film (Riva plays a retired piano teacher, with a student who went on to great acclaim) and the film never tells the viewer how to feel, which is as un-AMPAS as you can get.  The reviews have been glowing, and the Sony Pictures Classic is sure to make a pretty penny at the box-office (hopefully, though it's still too early to tell for sure) and perhaps become Haneke's highest-grossing film ever in the U.S.  SPC's other major 2012 releases include: To Rome With Love; The Raid: Redemption; Celeste and Jesse Forever; and Searching for Sugar Man.  While Sugar Man clearly has an excellent shot at Best Documentary, as far as narrative fiction, the studio's hopes rely squarely on Amour.