Tuesday, January 29, 2013
"Amour", the movie. An Act of Love
Amour,the new film by Michael Haneke, is an Oscar contender in two categories – best
film, best director.
Haneke succeeded in
depicting the loving relationship that existed between a husband and wife. A relationship that physical and mental
degradation which often results from old age and lingering illness, failed to
destroy.
Most of the reviewers gave
“Amour” high rating. Yet, many of them
did so with warnings about the grimness
and depressing effects. The film deals with a subject that many of us
avoid thinking about. All of us know
that age takes its toll. If we live long
enough, we’ll lose the ability to enjoy most of the things that give us
pleasure. Eventually, there will come a stage when not only there will be no joy in living but pain and discomfort will
overcome all else. We’ll end up in bed, sustained by medication and fed
tasteless food. And,
for some, that could mean a long time in the twilight zone. But death will come to all of us. It was famed San Francisco advertising
executive Howard Gossage who said: “Dying is regarded as bad taste in this
society inspite of the fact that 10 out of 10 people do it.”
In “Amour”, Haneke brought us the final days
of an elderly couple trying to cope with death....face it with dignity.
I happened to watch the
film at a theater in Menlo Park, CA. Reaction of the
mostly elderly, and female, audience was
somber but appreciative. That could be due to the locale. A film like “Amour”
is not likely to be found in theaters in small towns in the mid-west or south. Those
who believe that life and death are in the hands of someone up in the sky would
shun films like “Amour”. It is a film
for those who believe that being alive means more than being “clinically alive”.
*****
Labels: Amour, Death With Dignity, Howard Gossage, Menlo Park CA., Michael Haneke, Old Age
