45 anni

Kate and Geoff are a mature couple enjoying a peaceful life, their 45 year wedding anniversary is soon approaching, but this sense of calm is broken when Geoff receives a letter, telling him that the body of his first wife Katya has been found in the Swiss mountains. We see the effects on Geoff an Kate during the lead up to their celebration.

It is a wonderful character study, with two acting legends, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, both showcasing their vast talents, as a combination the pairing are formidable, too many high caliber scenes to pick out any real specifics, although the living room dancing is expertly done.

A good supporting cast too, I'm biased towards Geraldine James, but as always she is fantastic. She doesn't try to overtake or overshadow, she's great.

It's a film I very much enjoyed, it belongs to a certain genre of films that often gets overlooked, one that could easily be dismissed as boring, but it is expertly done. A true gem with an acting masterclass. 8/10

Kate (Charlotte Rampling) is preparing her 45th anniversary party married to Geoff Mercer (Tom Courtenay). They live comfortably childless in rural England. Geoff reveals something about a previous relationship with Katya who died long ago hiking a glacier but the body was only recently discovered. Kate is a little perplexed and struggles to understand the true nature of their relationship.

Charlotte Rampling is one of the greatest actresses around. I get the idea of an old couple with a secret. There isn't enough danger or drama for the tension to be truly raised. The major drama should occur after the big discovery. This is a quiet drama with buried emotions. I'm not complaining that nothing happens. It's just that the drama is interior and doesn't amount to that big. If you like quiet character study, this one is for you.

"45 Years" is a great demonstration on how to evoke so many layers of emotion and inner turmoil with a fairly simple filmmaking approach. These types of stories have been told lots of times and probably a bit better (Mike Leigh promptly comes to mind). But what director Andrew Haigh does here which provides the film it's gut wrenching sensation is that he writes these characters with so much depth and naturalism that the events that slowly unravel begin to make the film more and more despondent as it goes on.

Here we have a happily married couple getting ready to celebrate a milestone 45 year anniversary, only for an untimely piece of news regarding Geoff's (Tom Courtenay) past flame whom has passed away, which puts a spanner in the works. Being such a long time ago it would be feasible to think that this won't affect their current relationship, but suddenly all these memories come storming back and he suddenly gets caught in a sort of time warp. He brings her up at every opportunity, he can't stop talking about her. And this is where the film skillfully shifts it's focus onto Kate's (Charlotte Rampling) character. What she once thought was a perfect marriage filled with unbridled endearment immediately turns into a self-doubting thought process. Does he really love me? Am I his one and only?

Rampling is just extraordinary. Subtle in her expressions and exterior but inside the hurt is palpable. No showy antics, no histrionics - simply a masterclass in masking her grief. Haigh uses the bleak Norfolk countryside to great effect, placing her in the center of surroundings that perfectly illustrate what she's feeling -- forlornness and heartache. Courtenay is excellent as well, though not quite as affecting. But what he does brilliantly is convey the actions of an individual that can't quite come to terms with this news and it sets off a chain reaction of resorting to bad old habits and outlandish behavior.

The final scene however couldn't have been crafted any better if they tried. Whilst directed with so much grace and acted wonderfully by Courtenay with his anniversary speech, it was Rampling who elevated it to devastating effect . The words may have been music to the ears for many, but for her it was just so bittersweet because she didn't feel that same affection. She displays a multitude of emotions throughout; smiling, laughing, sorrow, melancholy. Her mind is constantly in a state of befuddlement. What should be one of the greatest nights of her life is far from it. And then the dance, which honestly made me tear up. Not only for Ramplings acting and heartbreaking final shot, but the lyrics to the song pretty much summed up everything that was destroying her;

"When that lovely flame dies Smoke gets in your eyes"

Their marriage may live on, but it will now always be shrouded with her belief that her husband doesn't hold the same love for her that he once had, and this woman from days gone by will always be present for the rest of their lives.

"45 Years" is a slow burning, intricately designed exploration of the underlying grief us humans undergo when in tough times. It's both beautiful and harrowing, aided by incredible performances.

A sequence of events in the run up to a big celebration of the couple's 45th anniversary. An unexpected letter with some unsettling news that pulls, just a little, at the seams of the marriage.

Scenic English country side outside a historic market town. Accomplished performances by all of the cast. Charming British accents. Lovely camera work. Tight scripting & dialogs that brings out the affections and tensions of a long, childless marriage. All of this points to an engaging movie, and it is.

Except, there isn't enough in it. It's like someone took the plot of a short story and decided to spin it out into a novel and you wish they hadn't. It's like a samosa where they skimped on the aloo. It is worth a watch, just about, especially on a day where you feel your life has been too dramatic and you want to tamp it down a little.

titular four and half decades and we meet them less than a week before a party to celebrate this special anniversary. That morning, Geoff receives a letter in German which over the next few days provokes a profound re-evaluation of their marriage. Although based on a short story of only 12 pages by David Constantine, the cinematic translation has all sorts of subtle changes, notably adopting the female rather than the male viewpoint.

Technically this is a wonderful film. It is shot entirely in the unusual ambiance of Norfolk and writer/director Andrew Haigh offers us many long shots of the flat terrain and even flatter broads. Above all, the acting is superb with both Courtenay and (especially) Rampling at the top of their game. The final scene, focused so long on Rampling's face is as evocative as anything since the camera clung to Geta Garbo's visage at the conclusion of "Queen Christina".

Emotionally, however, this is a tough piece of work. It is so slow, so understated, and ultimately so profoundly melancholic. In the cinema, my wife and I - together for three and a half decades - were surrounded people of the same vintage, most of them couples. I think that we were all looking for an affirmation that living with the same person decade after decade after decade, in spite of its trials and tribulations and irritations, is richly rewarded by so many shared memories and such deep love. This is not that film.