Keswick Film Club - Amour

Synopsis

Our film tonight could be a season highlight. It is one that Dave Calhoun from Time Out says "..is a devastating, highly intelligent and astonishingly performed work. It's a masterpiece". George (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) are 80 year olds and a very happily married couple.

'Amour' follows them in their day to day life through the traumas caused when Anna has a stroke and her life begins to close down. What do love and companionship mean when one half of a couple is facing the end? How can we cope? What's the right way to behave? Can anyone else understand what you're going through? Is life always worth living? What role, if any, do kindness and compassion play? And what, actually, do those words even mean in extreme circumstances? Michael Haneke (who we have previously enjoyed directing 'Hidden' and 'White Ribbon') has already won the Palme D'Or for this film at Cannes, garnering great praise from the critics for its intelligence, intensity and intimacy. On top of this we have the pleasure of seeing Trintignant and Riva "give breathtaking performances" Peter Bradshaw, Guardian with Isabelle Huppert in support. A masterpiece indeed.