Amour

‘Amour,’ the 2012 French-language film, written and directed by the Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert, tells the story of an elderly couple, Anne and Georges, who are retired music teachers with a daughter who lives abroad. Anne suffers a stroke which paralyses her on one side of her body. The film was screened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or. It has been selected as the Austrian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, making the January shortlist.
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Critics say ‘Amour’ is Haneke’s most optimistic and most gentle film, and considering it’s a Haneke film, it’s saying a lot. Expectantly, at the heart of this love story between a couple who was clearly made for each other and had a long and fruitful life together, comes with its own share of violence. But unlike other Haneke films, or any other film for that matter, this violence is not the payoff, but a predicable conclusion of the narrative.

As the film begins, we are told that something happened in the house, and we see a dead body, which, surrounded by dried flowers, is rotting. Then the screen goes black and the title appears, ‘Amour’, ‘Love’. But, critics are right, unlike other Haneke films, like ‘Funny Games’, or even ‘Cache’, this film is brimming with optimist, even in death… look how the film ends… Wonderful!