Amour

Michael Haneke's (The White Ribbon, Caché) latest film tackles aging and love—the harsh fate that can befall anyone after eight or so decades on this planet, and bearing witness to this happening to your spouse. We encounter Anne and Georges (Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant) at the beginning of Anne’s decline. While Haneke suggests they’ve lived a fulfilling life (this hinted at by the people who visit and the souvenirs that garnish the interior), things become increasingly tense as Anne’s disintegration gets worse and their posh apartment becomes the site of deterioration and isolation from the outside world. While this subject matter is far from uplifting, Haneke handles it well, both in his writing and his directing, and the actors truly bring it to life in such a way that it seems impossible not to be moved by this movie. —Molly Segal