Written by Andreas Babiolakis

This review is a part of the Palme d’Or Project: a review of every single Palme d’Or winner at Cannes Film Festival. Amour won the fifty seventh Palme d’Or at the 2012 festival.

The film was selected by the following jury.
Jury President: Nanni Moretti.
Jury: Hiam Abbass, Andrea Arnold, Emmanuelle Devos, Jean Paul Gaultier, Diane Kruger, Ewan McGregor, Alexander Payne, Raoul Peck.

Michael Haneke wowed Cannes audiences and the jury with what was arguably his angriest film: The White Ribbon. It only took three years – one of the shortest turnaround times for two time Palme d'Or winners – to take over Cannes by storm again, this time with his most emotional film. If Haneke was ever to make a warm film in his prime, this is as close as he would get. Amour is an impossibly heartbreaking affair that showcases the most raw filmmaking of his career. It's also his biggest breakthrough, having been the first international film to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in many years (it would also create a trend and would open the door for films like Parasite to do well with the Academy Awards). It cleaned up even at the BAFTAs. More importantly for this article, the jury wanted to give Amour all of Cannes' major prizes: a Cannes infraction. Films can now only win one of the major prizes, and it's actually thanks to The Piano Teacher (another Haneke film, oddly enough), which won the Grand Prix, Best Director, and Best Actress (Isabelle Huppert) awards, that Cannes set up this rule (to keep things interesting).

So what makes Amour such a widely appealing film, especially given the filmmakers notoriety for making difficult pictures? It's one of the times that Haneke speaks to everyone. We all fall in love. We all get old, or have seen loved ones age. We all fall apart. Amour is us staring the inevitable in the face, and Haneke doesn't sugar coat what is to come. He is as honest as can be, and we can recognize that right away. He cast French legends Emmanuelle Riva (a big star of French Left Bank cinema) and Jean-Louis Trintignant (who was actually retired by this point, but wanted to work with Haneke during this opportunity). Here are icons of yesteryear now playing an octogenarian couple that is experiencing their biggest hurdle so far. On one hand, seeing these recognizable performers is touching, given the decades of excellence that they provided us. On the other, we know this is likely the last major film either would do (sadly this was proven true), and it's one final hurrah for two of the best in French film history. Toss in Haneke veteran Huppert (on the topic of best performers ever), and you've got a trifecta of acting brilliance to steer this ship we call Amour.

amou — If Michael Haneke was to ever wear his heart on his sleeve, it would look like *Amour*, which is still a massively depressing film.

Riva and Trintignant play a wife and husband named Anne and Georges Laurent (Huppert is their daughter Eva). Anne's dead body, reeking in their apartment building, is how Amour starts. How did we get here? We flash further into the past. The couple, both former professional musicians, are having breakfast when Anne experiences a minor stroke. Georges notices this immediately, and tries to assess what seems off about his wife. She comes back to herself, although without being aware of what has just happened. She initially disregards treatment until she begins to notice signs of irregularity. Unfortunately, it is through malpractice (something going wrong during a procedure meant to help her post stroke) that she is now paralyzed on the entire right side of her body. These are unforeseen circumstances, but both of the Laurent parents' lives are going to change forever.

Who could foretell this tragedy? We ask our loved ones to seek help to get them better, not to permanently hurt them. Amour becomes a series of tests to see if Georges will still love his wife through thick and thin. The short answer is "yes". The larger analysis is a spoiler I won't bring up, but it's a sign of devotion that only Haneke would be able to pull off without feeling like exploitation. Having these acting giants play these harrowing performances (particularly Riva's physical commitment towards partial paralysis) results in arguably the best work of either illustrious career. This isn't just an acting vehicle, as you'll also find Haneke himself has never been better as both a director and a writer. Inspired by the unfortunate battles his aunt fought, Heneke supplies this film with a bit of a personal tenderness and understanding. His other films usually show the sick sides of the human experience. Amour cherishes that of which we have to do because of this crazy thing called love.

Would you fully commit to the biggest decision of your life, especially with how it affects another? Amour provides us many reasons why we should at least see where this choice came from, including the obvious-yet-gentle symbol of a seemingly trapped pigeon that cannot be free. It is not an easy film to watch, but Haneke succeeds in getting us to wrap our heads around why we are seeing what we witness. On one hand, Amour is one of the most depressing films ever made, and it's safe to call it so ten years after its release (it only makes me sadder the older I get, and the closer I am to experiencing this film with others or via myself one day [excluding particular details, mind you]). On the other, it is also very sincere. Love isn't just about the good times. It's also about building up trust and devotion, and being given the reins of particular situations. Was the right choice made? Who knows. That is up to you, the viewer, fo decide. On the other hand, we can tell why it was made, and that's more or less why Haneke is interested. Amour is one of the most humanistic films I've ever seen, despite how far it brings us and its characters out of our comfort zones (but, then again, being pushed beyond our former selves is what makes us human).

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.