Amour (2012)

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Amour4 And A Half Out Of 5Amour is a character driven feature about an old couple that goes through their last phase of the unbroken love when a tragic incident leaves them by shook. The construction of the world depicted in here is so mesmerizing that despite of being restrained within four walls; literally, it is thoroughly busy and competent. Despite of having such bold moves on the chess board, none of them seems to have broken any sort of rule; the audience is never left cheated which often happens whilst leaping few turns. The chemistry is without any doubt, some of the best that the cinema had to offer to the audience and not due to its soothing tone and sweetness involved in it but its three dimensional perspective towards each little things. The writing is genuinely moving, emotionally manipulative and adaptive which leaves the audience in an awe of it; the metaphorical pigeon will haunt you even after the curtain drops. It is rich on technical aspects like the d.o.p., camera work and detailed production design. Smarter sound designing, alluring background score and the ingenious structure of the script are the high points of the feature. Haneke; the screenwriter-director, is in his A game where his script does meet its brilliant execution skills which is rare and exquisite. But in the end, it's all about the act, it's all performance, and boy what an act they have staged. Riva and Trintignant are; similar to their characters, dependent on each other flaunting their behemoth talent on screen that can make viewers' eyes pop out. Amour is chillingly beautiful to the core and not for its knack of drawing out the emotions from the audience but for its loudness that it demands to be seek upon.

There's been lots of movies about retirees, but not much about senior citizens this old. Even when 'Amour' is compared to some of those, this will likely come up stronger.Georges and Anne Laurent are in their mid-80's. One day, Anne suffers a stroke which leads to a strong state of dementia. Her physical and mental health is deteriorating and will only get worse. Georges can can only sit by and watch his wife of over fifty years in chronic pain. It is pretty obvious how this ends, but we are still heartbroken beyond words when it does. So that's basically what the movie is about. It can be summarized into three lines without much else to say that's very crucial. So it may be a little basic and simple in its story and directing, but it has the power to shatter you. About one or two minutes of the entire film taking place outside their apartment. Most takes are very long. These two elements completely suck the viewer directly into the world of this married couple. I love it when movies take me into their world, but 'Amour' does it much deeper than most. After the viewer arrives into the Laurent apartment, the long takes make the viewer feel as if they are sitting in a chair watching Georges and Anne's lives unravel. And there are some moments of great camera work that is surprising considering it all takes place in an apartment.Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva give performances to behold. Their performances are beyond amazing. Even without the strong immersive quality, I would still have been amazed. Seeing Anne's deterioration and Georges' loss of patience and increase of emotional pain progress makes you feel like you are watching exactly what it being seen. You have to be reminded these are just two talented actors. There's a few other people that come to the apartment (including Isabelle Huppert who plays their daughter), but we focus on the two main characters. Here is a simple art-film that packs an enormous punch. Aside from being the best elderly movie ever, it might just be my favourite foreign language film of the decade thus far.

There's something truly genius in Michael Haneke's directing. The way he just hangs the camera and let the scene lives. Shots lasting a bit longer than necessary, but just enough so that you can find beauty in the mundane slices of life. Characters going out of field, only to make sound and off-field discussions interesting. Scenes themselves are intrigues. I don't see what they're seeing. What are they looking at? I don't see his face. How does he feel about this? It's just pure ingenuity in directing, without any artifice.But, after one hour of film, the unavoidable question kicks in: where is this headed? The title answers "Love", but the film answers "Death". The two are not mutually exclusive, and I think the movie tries to argue that the latter makes the former sublime. Yet, when came the realization that this is basically a documentary on slow deterioration to death, the realist style of directing that I liked so much at the beginning started to become the engine of a long nightmare.There's about no intrigue in this move apart from the whereabouts of the few characters and the connection between them. It's hard to imagine the movie keeping its spirit without being as stubborn as it is, so I guess it is as best as it can be for this core idea. But there's a limit to what I can handle.

This is the third movie of Austrian Director Michael Haneke I watched. AMOUR (Love). It won the best foreign film Oscar. Michael 's direction is many times compared to Alfred Hitchcock. His movie Funny Games is the best example of building mysterious tension. The other movie I had seen was Piano Teacher – which was also exceptional in understanding unexplored sexual fantasies of a woman. Amour on other end tells the story of an old couple's Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) and George (Jean-Louis Trintignant)'s life. Starts with police breaking in their apartment and finding Anne's dead body. The movie goes ahead with a flashback when Anne and George come back from a concert. With time, Anne slowly loses her abilities and is struck with a paralytic attach on right side and after getting treatment in a hospital is confined to bed and wheelchair. The movie is about the struggle of old couple in a big Paris Apartment, where 3 times in a week a nurse comes to help Anne, otherwise George is the one who has to take care of bed-ridden Anne. It is a mirror to the audiences on loneliness, old-age, helplessness, slow process of decay and death in human body. Brilliantly executed. Though slow and not a flavor for everyone, especially those who are not sensitive towards the fact – that one day, they too will become old and face old age. Both Emmanuelle and Jean-Louis have acted brilliantly and taken the whole film on their shoulders. Direction is top class. There are moments that make you cry. After Anne gets paralytic attack I saw the rest of the movie with praying hands. There is brilliant musical score especially on piano. It has won 80 international awards and additional 83 nominations showcases its appreciation and acceptability in the type of movie it is. Essential for movie buffs who like good movies.LOVED it!(7.25 out of 10)