While in Edmonton last weekend I rounded out seeing the list of Academy Award best picture nominees by watching "Amour". It was the only film I hadn't managed to catch so far, and in order to flesh out my predictions for this years winners I made an effort to catch it before heading back to Saskatoon. The film has a very theatric feel - the entire plot takes place within the apartment of an elderly couple. I can easily see this story being performed live on a stage.
"Amour" touches on a number of themes that are near and dear to my heart - namely, aging, health, frailty, and end of life care as examples. I'm sure these are all areas many people can relate to as they see their parents and grandparents aging. In addition, I recently finished a month of in-patient neurology and my experience from that rotation resonated with the plot developments early on. At the outset of the film, the wife experiences a stroke that leaves her paralyzed down her right side, although her mind and language are preserved (NOTE: medically, this makes no sense to me - normally, anyone with arm and leg paralysis would loose language function as well but I guess I have to allow for a little creative license). She comes home from hospital and forces her husband to promise that he will never take her back to hospital. It is clearly expressed that any further set backs she faces as she approaches the end of her life are to be spent at home. Her husband promises and therein he makes his biggest gesture of love to her. I've heard the movie described as a beautiful love story - and I get how it can be viewed that way, but I think it shows the darker side of love too.
We watch as he struggles to cope with first her physical failings, and then cognitive failings. He upholds his promise despite having a daughter who will occasionally visit and feebly attempt to control the situation. Clearly, she is struggling with the slow loss of her mother, but her suggestions felt somewhat condescending from my point of view, since she wasn't immersed in her mother's care on a daily basis. As the wife fails, we also watch the husband's internal struggle with self doubt, frustration, and fear at losing a partner who he shared a life and career with. It was the husband's struggle that I found difficult to understand. He is plagued by nightmares, and sometimes I wondered whether we were watching real events or if he was becoming delirious as his wife gets progressively worse.
Regardless, this movie is depressing and I left feeling rather dissatisfied with it. The film was very well received by critics, which makes me think it must have resonated with some people, but I couldn't help but find it too stylized to really capture what families face with the loss of a loved family member - particularly with that agonizing slow decline. It's such a complicated time, fraught with mixed emotions of love, loss, guilt, anger, frustration, feeling trapped. I think the film tried to convey this complexity with the husband's breakdown toward the end, but that is where I felt the film really faltered. I just felt confused by what he was going through. Perhaps this was the intention? I'm not sure, but I really found the line between reality and dream obscured near the end.
It was interesting to see that Amour was included in the best picture nominations. It's not one I would have included. Looking at the list of the rest of the nominees for the best picture category, I feel really torn between betting on Lincoln or Argo for the win. After seeing Lincoln I was convinced it would be the winner because it had so many features of an Oscar winning film - the biopic advantage, large cinematic scenes, an epic struggle to end a dark chapter in American history. However, when I saw Argo a few weeks later I was really blown away. It was engaging, it felt original, and was well acted and directed. As a whole, I thought Argo was actually better polished, more unified story. I thought Lincoln should have ended earlier - the epic proportions sort of got the better of the film. I also really loved Life of Pi, but I think the other two will make it difficult for Pi to win. Ultimately I think when it comes down to it, my pick is for Argo as the likely winner. Two more nights until the party starts!
Sally knows how it's done.
No comments:
Post a Comment