Presented by the Walter Phillips Gallery, Reel Time features some of the best films from the Toronto International Film Festival. The series brings alternative cinema to the Bow Valley the first Monday of every month, with engaging feature-length films and creative Canadian shorts.
Drawing on the extraordinary talents of two of the finest and most legendary performers in the history of French cinema – Jean-Louis Trintignant (The Conformist, Trois couleurs: Rouge) and Emmanuelle Riva (Hiroshima mon amour) – the Palme d’Or-winning Amour details the painful dilemma that confronts Anne and Georges Laurent, a married couple in their eighties encountering the indignities of ageing and the end of life. Ensconced in an apartment that fits them like an old glove, settled happily into their long-established domestic routines, their world is upended when Anne suddenly displays symptoms of a stroke. With Anne now partially paralyzed, Georges struggles to care for her at home, with each day bringing new, ever more painful challenges.
Director Michael Haneke’s script is a masterpiece of compassion and understanding which unerringly touches all the right notes, and skillfully avoids sentimentality and cliché. Full of surprises, this is a magisterial work from a brilliant artist who powerfully and intelligently describes the relationship of a couple facing their own mortality.
Director: Michael Haneke
Language: French, with subtitles
Running time: 127 minutes
Rating: 14A
