Amour

There have been many melodramas about characters taking care of ill loved ones, but very few are as unflinchingly honest and unsentimental as Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winning masterpiece. Set entirely inside the flat of upper-middle-class retired couple Anne and Georges, the film follows the former’s slow, but inevitable physical and mental deterioration after suffering a stroke, and Georges’ unwavering commitment to take care of her after promising not to send her into a hospital or a nursing home. There is nothing graceful in Haneke’s emotionally bruising vision of aging and dying, but his portrayal of love and commitment is so quietly tender that even the cruelest act feel like the gentlest.

Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or

Academy Awards: Best Foreign Language Film

19/12(Sat): Speaker: Ka Ming (Film critic)