45 Years (2015)

The Worst Film Ever

So much average

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is a truly awful film. Very slow moving, loaded with pointless scenes, and no resolution of the issue. The plot involves a upper middle class 70-something English couple (Charlotte and Tom) married for 45 years. Prior to their marriage, the husband's old girlfriend died on a hike with him in the Swiss Alps where she fell into a crack in a glacier. Her body was not recovered. The movie opens with the husband getting a letter from Switzerland informing him that her body was finally found in the debris of a melting glacier. We know this in the first minutes of the film then for the next 40 minutes, nothing develops. Just lots of pointless scenes - Charlotte on a river boat, Charlotte with her friends, Charlotte shopping. Charlotte planning a party, Charlotte walking her dog in the country, Charlotte driving, etc. None of these overly long scenes adds anything to the film. At the halfway point, after a grim sex scene between the two - no one needs to see to 70 year olds attempting to boink. Plus the guy fails to perform. Ish. Finally Charlotte snoops in the loft of the house and finds a Tom's old scrapbook and slide projector with images of the dead girl friend who happens to be pregnant. Now you think this may be something - a murder, a child out there somewhere, whatever, but something interesting for the story. But once again, nothing develops out of this. More useless scenes. Charlotte playing the piano, Tom going to his old job for some unknown reason, etc. The movie ends with their 45th anniversary party where there is a long scene of the two dancing and Tom giving a long wandering speech. It's not a nuanced or a complex story., Poorly constructed and acted. It could have been boiled down to 20 minutes.

45 Years (2015) Director: Andrew Haigh Watched: April 2018 7/10 Unostentatious, Both Rampling and Courtenay, Performances that Impress with their subtleness. A British couple Leading quaint lives with dog Max, About to honor Their lifetime spent together. While making plans For grand celebration with Family and friends, Unexpectedly meet with Challenge to their love. A letter from Germany, They found her body. Informative in nature, But of course much more, Stirring up old emotions. A husband's past love, More important than once thought. Things he never told, Secrets up in the attic. Engaged and pregnant, So many decades ago. Yet it still matters. A wife's struggle to accept A past betrayal. Enthralling despite slow pace, Humor at right times, Music that strikes the right chord, English countryside Serves as beautiful background, Weather its own role. Double character study, But mostly Rampling, Close-ups on reticent face. Wished for something more From Courtenay's character. Maybe tedious, But that is how real life is. No easy answers, An unsatisfying end. Haigh shows us real life, The fragility of love. He tried in "Weekend", Succeeds with "45 Years". On incompleteness, A perceptive perspective Why history never dies. Choka (long poem) is an epic storytelling form of poetry from the Waka period, an unrhymed poem with the 5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7...7 syllable format (any odd number line length with alternating five and seven syllable lines that ends with an extra seven syllable line). #Choka #PoemReview

I commend the actors in this film who were strong enough to push through this lame premise.After 45 years of marriage, the idea that a dead ex-girlfriend would cause such a rift in a marriage is hard to believe. Hats off to the two main leads who were able to pull this off.I just wasn't able to sympathize with the characters over this situation. It was really much ado about nothing.

45 Years is a almost a theatrical film, with not many characters and a slow-burning, subtle but powerful exploration of couple dynamics, the nature of love and trust, the weight of the past on the present, and who truly are those people with whom we share our lives. There is also a pointy finger to the social façade that many couples show to the world, which is not always as rosy or perfect when they are behind closed doors.We get to know this apparently exemplary couple, Geoff and Kate Mercer, who have been married for 45 years and are approaching the celebration of their 45th wedding anniversary, content with their lives, caring, and loving. Until some news related to Geoff's past arrive and open a Pandora's box filled of smells of another woman, a love story that was more powerful that initially seems, and the ramifications that the story had on Geoff's marrying Kate. After the box in open, we get to see the real nature and strength of their relationship.One of the main virtues of the film is, paradoxically, one of its most bugging disappointments: the ambiguity of feelings the viewer experiences about the unfolding events. We get to know the past story, and some of the ramifications on the Swiss love story on Geoff & Kate's love story. However, we don't know why a story that happened so long ago, before the couple met, is hitting Kate so harshly. We get to live, in a way, the same doubts and mixed feelings she feels about the sincerity and integrity of her husband's love, feelings, and openness in their relationship: was she a rebound or was he really in love with her when they married? Why did he hide everything? Why is he's still hiding things and laying about everything? Why is he so distressed about a person he met 40+ years ago? Can she really trust him? On the other hand, we don't really know what is behind Geoff's secrecy and moodiness either: Did Geoff hide his past to Kate on purpose? Did he just want to put the past behind and move on afresh with her? Is his current behavior the result of his inability to deal with his emotions? Or is it a reminder of what life was and would have been like with the other woman? Does he really love Kate? Did he love Kate when he married her?These annoying doubts create a subtle emotional tension that bugs you inside, without any dramatic scene needed to be created. After all, things that destroy a relationship the most aren't always the fights or dramas, but the unsettling feelings of distrust, disrespect, lack of communication and lack of openness of those people with whom we share our lives. At the end of the film, I found that it was OK for us not to know anything for sure. The lack of knowledge produces an unsettling feeling in the viewer, and you get to say (or at least I did) you can never get to know anybody fully, no matter s/he is your partner, parent or offspring, there is always more to any person than meets the eye, and you should never ask people for their secrets as you might not be able to deal with their answer. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are great in their respective roles, looking their age and playing being elderly with grace and verisimilitude.