Amour. Dir. Michael Haneke. Les Films du Losange, 2012. DVD. 127 minutes.
For plot summary and other details: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1602620/
Language: French
Subtitles: English
Setting: 2010s, France
Remarks: With the title evoking affection and thus the ambiguities associated with it, Amour also shines light on caregiving. In a reversal of roles, the husband is responsible for the wife after she has a stroke. Whereas young to middle-aged women typically care for the family, here the elderly woman is enfeebled, reduced to childish dependence. In his eighties, the husband too has physical limits, like being unable to carry groceries up to the apartment. Watching them do as much as they physically can all while bearing emotional burdens as Anne declines is difficult. The film raises question about the limits of love, of the sacrifices one makes for others, and at what point that sacrifice becomes too much for the caregiver.
Keywords: la vieillesse, le mariage, se soigner en soignant des autres, se souvenir/ s’oublier, la musique