45 ans

The movie flows very slowly, but the two actors playing the leads did not bore me. They were really good at expressing the situation. The film in general played out very mundane but give lots of drama without overdoing it.

A few days before their 45th wedding anniversary Geoff and Kate are sitting in their house when Geoff receives a letter from Switzerland stating they found his first love. Basically the letter reminds him that, through no fault of his own Geoff lost his first love, and as he dwells on this fact Kate realizes this too.

The whole situation was done well and interestingly, as the two actors inside a small cottage for most of the movie react to the letter. Kate has to watch Geoff get lost in, not really regret but something that would have never been and it makes her think about what she met to him for the past 45 years.

It was a really good movie, very impress how they could keep the story so real and down to Earth and still hole the viewer.

Andrew Haigh's latest film "45 Years" (2015) is one of the big film events of this year and not least because of the memorable performances of its two leading actors, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay. It's a very simple film, granted, but exceptionally good as such. Both performers do an excellent job. Haigh's narrative is character-driven and never self-aware. All seems to be subjected to what is going on inside these characters. The film has been shot in the beautiful English countryside whose unreliable and unpredictable weather plays an integral role in the drama of untold memories, hidden emotions, and their appearance. It is a moving film about time and the complex relations between the past and the present.

The story centers around a retired, childless couple, Kate (Rampling) and Geoff (Courtenay) who have been married for 45 years. One day Geoff receives a letter telling him that the body of his ex-lover before his marriage, Katya, has been found fully preserved in the Swiss glaciers. This event as well as the approaching arrival of their 45th anniversary coerces the couple into re-evaluating their relationship, the choices they have made in life, and their deepest desires.

This story, based on a short story by David Constantine, is itself great in its simplicity, but Haigh also deals with it in an exquisite fashion. He has chosen not just the perfect performers for the roles but also the perfect milieu of the English countryside which works as a barometer for the characters' emotions. Haigh utilizes a moving camera and lingering, though not strikingly long, shots. He uses a wide range of different shots ranging from long full shots of the landscapes to medium close-ups of Kate's seemingly calm face which encapsulates her powerful eyes where a lot of emotion is going on that she is unable to express in words or gestures. Repeatedly, Haigh places Rampling wandering in the milieu, defining the character's relationship with the space that surrounds her. These scenes may strike as excessive to some, but one ought to relate them to the 45 years, to the time that is embodied in these five days before the anniversary celebration.

The title of the film refers to a time gone by, but the film takes place strictly (that is, flashbacks are excluded) in the present. The past finds form in the memory of Katya, the ghost in the couple's life who Kate never really knew. Katya, as the embodiment of the past, is a threat to the presence. It is as if she mocked the living in her death that has saved her from aging unlike Kate and Geoff. Geoff also takes a sudden interest in climate change, a powerful symbol not only for the slow eruption of drama for the couple but also the emergence of Katya, the past, beneath the surface. In a key scene, where Kate goes to their attic to study Geoff's old travel photos from the trip to Switzerland where Katya died, the slide projector -- offering the truths from the past -- is the only source of light and sound in an otherwise dark and silent present. In the long take, which covers the whole scene, we can sense the danger of the past swallowing the present, the danger of Kate falling into the glacier that once engulfed Katya.

Overall, "45 Years" is an extremely simple film. It bears no social nor metaphysical connotations. Formal elements serve the development of drama and character psychology. One can't really, however, talk about the subordination of style for the service of story because the external story is veritably marginal. It is, above all, an inner drama, taking place inside the characters. In all its simplicity, "45 Years" is a subtle, yet emotionally bursting film about the fragility, incompleteness, and vulnerability of life and love which have already lasted through a lot and grown in the process.

'45 YEARS': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

British drama flick; about an elderly couple, that's about to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary, that suddenly has romantic difficulties, due to memories of a past relationship resurfacing. The movie was written and directed by Andrew Haigh; and it's based on the short story 'In Another Country', by David Constantine. The film stars Charlotte Rampling (who was nominated for an Academy Award, for her performance) and Tom Courtenay. The movie is very slow-paced; but interesting, and very well acted.

Kate (Rampling) and Geoff (Courtenay) are retired, and have been happily married for 45-years. They're about to celebrate their anniversary, in Norwich; after missing their 40th celebration (due to Geoff's medical complications). A week before the party, Geoff receives a letter from Switzerland; notifying him that the body of a past lover (from the 60s), has been found in a melting glacier there (where she fell, on a hiking trip). The news causes Geoff to reminisce, greatly; which doesn't sit well with Kate.

Like I said, the movie is very slow; but it also feels extremely real. The characters are very well developed; and it really feels like you're watching a couple that's been together for a very long time. Both Rampling and Courtenay are very good in the movie, and they make the film worth watching. It's a sad, but touching story.

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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.

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.