Amour
(2012)
Michael Haneke’s latest topped many
critics’ “Best of the Year” lists and managed the unlikely feat of not one but
two Best Picture Oscar nominations, so it must be pretty damn good. Well, no
doubt as an indication of my philistine tendencies, I didn't find Amour either profound or insightful.
I’m sure many of the reasons it has been so
acclaimed are the very ones that left me non-plussed. It could certainly be
shown as “prep” work on what to expect for anyone with a deteriorating relative
(well, minus a few significant plot details). But it’s this painstaking
deliberation over the mundanity of emotionally draining and physically
unedifying routines that makes it a chore to sit through.
When a film is so well regarded, there’s
the possibility that dissention will be called out as a failure to appreciate
its merits; or a deficiency on the part of the viewer (some form of denial,
perhaps). I wouldn’t seek to persuade Amour’s
admirers that they are somehow wrong, merely emphasise that I found it, in the
main, unaffecting; vaguely irritating, perhaps, that I was supposed to assume
that the nature of the relationship should somehow be revelatory as if Haneke
had stumbled upon some hallowed or previously unexplored territory. But, beyond
a certain point, the tedium of the experience became my presiding response;
about the same time I wondered if this wasn’t a faintly sadistic joke on the
director’s part to see how far he could push it with a compliant audience
(curiously, or twistedly, the outcome of the husband’s decisive act had
occurred to me as a means to curtail the unfettered running time). If I’m
honest, though, my knee-jerk response (because
it has been so feted) was that in some quarters finding a viewing experience difficult
is a tantamount to a confirmation of its artistic merit. Ultimately this may
just be an area where differing tastes take over, be it aesthetic, emotional or
philosophical. Just as horror films aren’t generally my cup of tea, neither are
those that construct themselves as a marathon for the viewer to test their
staying power and challenge them to extract some meaning from that experience.
What does Amour provoke in the viewer that they are not already aware of? Dying
can be miserable and slow (particularly if you're "experiencing" it
vicariously as a viewer) and love and devotion sometimes aren't pretty. Subjects
that are doubtless ripe for inspiring great art; I just don’t think there’s much
“in” Amour to discover. It won’t resonate with me in the days to come. It’s all
there on the surface, wearing its laboured mechanics as a badge of pride (if
the viewer suffers too, isn’t that a slight achievement, as a reflection of the
experience the couple has undergone?)
Of course, crafty Haneke wants to have it
both ways, putting his viewers through an endurance test with his couple, who expressly
want to be closeted from prying eyes. So we are essentially allied with
Isabelle Huppert’s emotionally outspoken but ineffectual daughter when Georges
(Jean-Louis Trintignant) tells her that she doesn’t belong in this situation
(one of the few scenes in the film that engages dramatically).
I might complement Haneke on his admirable
lack of sentimentality, but since his cold, impassive gaze is a defining
characteristic I would be stating the obvious. Trintignant and Emmanualle Riva
deliver very fine performances; the former deserves praise in particular, since
the latter has received most of the awards attention (fairly typical of the
affliction=Oscar equation).
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