This year Michael Haneke left Cannes with his second Palme d’Or. The protagonists of Amour are Georges and Anna, husband and wife, former music teachers whose comfortable old age is interrupted by Anna’s sudden illness. Her husband rejects practical solutions, however, and cares for his wife until her last breath. Actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emanuelle Riva give masterful performances.
Georges and Anna are octogenarians who don’t yet feel the weight of their years. They are both retired music teachers who always lived in harmony, as is clear from their lively conversation following a concert. Their daughter lives with her family abroad. One day Anna suffers a loss of memory, the first sign of her illness. Georges is thus faced with a difficult test. Although old and feeble himself, he refuses his daughter’s practical solution. In an age when the word love is often a euphemism for sexual satisfaction, Michael Haneke has shot a film about an elderly couple who have not stopped loving each other despite having lived together for so long. Without love, Georges would be unable to care for Anna to her dying breath. And his final act, however extreme, can only be understood as an expression of love. A meditation on old age and dying can never be a picnic, but thanks to the director and his actors, it can prove unforgettable.
127 min / Color, DCP
Director Michael Haneke
/ Screenplay Michael Haneke
/ Dir. of Photography Darius Khondji
/ Editor Monika Willi, Nadine Muse
/ Producer Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Michael Katz
/ Production Les Films du Losange, X-Filme Creative Pool GmbH, Wega Film
/ Cast Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert
/ Contact Artcam Films, Les Films du Losange
/ Distributor Artcam Films
Michael Haneke (b. 1942, Munich) studied philosophy, psychology, and theater science in Vienna. In 1967-1970 he worked for German television. After a number of made-for-TV movies he shot the trilogy The Seventh Continent (1989), Benny’s Video (1992), and 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994), in which he presents alienated individuals through an image of their frustrations, while analyzing the relationship between violence and modern media. His other works are also marked by a certain pessimism towards the human race: The Castle (1997), Funny Games (1997), Code Unknown (2000), The Piano Teacher (2001), Time of the Wolf ( 2003), Hidden (2004). In 2007 he shot a US remake of his own film Funny Games. KVIFF 2009 presented The White Ribbon (2009), awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes, as was his latest picture Amour.
Artcam Films
Rašínovo nábřeží 6, 128 00, Praha 2
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 221 411 619
Fax: +420 221 411 699
E-mail: [email protected]
Les Films du Losange
7/9 rue des Petites Écuries, 750 10, Paris
France
Phone: +33 144 438 710
E-mail: [email protected]
Přemysl Martinek
Film Institution Rep., Producer
Artemio Benki
Distributor, Film Director, Producer
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