This is a French film with English subtitles. 'Amour' means 'love.'

IMDB says: Georges and Anne are an octogenarian couple. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, also a musician, lives in Britain with her family. One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.

Let’s cut to the chase: this is not a happy film, this is a film about a couple in their 80s who are close to death, and how one copes when he sees the love of his life begin to fade away. It’s not a film I’d pick to watch voluntarily because the subject matter is quite depressing (few of us want to think about our parents ageing and dying, even if it is inevitable), however, I watched it for a work event I have coming up and I am glad I did.

It’s an unexpectedly beautiful film. I found it beautiful because the acting is astounding, I found it beautiful because the Director chose not to include a soundtrack; he did not want to manipulate our feelings via the medium of a lonesome violin piece or deep bass or something orchestral and cinematic. This to me really exemplifies really good film-making. You make a great, honest film with amazing actors, you say it as it is, and you leave it to the viewer to decide whether they will have an emotional reaction or not.

Personally, I only shed a brief tear once. I also found it beautiful because the Director is not afraid to cling on to a shot. So often you find that films flip from scene to scene in such short spaces of time that you’re not given enough time to focus on the face, emotions, surroundings, to be given time to contemplate what those characters may be feeling. This is not the case here. The average length of a shot is 33 seconds. Also (thank you IMDB) not one word of the film script was changed during filming. I find that quite amazing. That’s one hell of a script writer they employed.

You also won’t find many moments whereby the scripts the actors speak are designed to manipulate, per the soundtrack above. It’s black-and-white: I am dying, these are the things about our life, some straightforward people interactions, and some touching moments here and there. Also, a few plot twists. But not Hollywood style ones, the sort of things that happen to people in everyday life (or perhaps not).

Essentially the film is about love, but I don’t believe that you need to have experienced love to take away something beautiful from this film. I will definitely be looking up the Director’s other works, although I have read this film is his most serious, and certainly the one most appreciated by film critics to date.

I also appreciated that the Director was extremely selective with what he chose to graphically include. Given the subject matter it really could have been quite icky, however, he was very discrete, and those awful scenes I anticipated seeing are purely left to my own imagination.

Finally, I found it beautiful because you can see the couple's love in such a straightforward manner. This is via the film direction, they are not a 'soppy' couple. Love isn't always about hugs and kisses and dancing and fun, sometimes it's about being there when things hit rock bottom.

IMDB: 7.8/ Me: 9/10.