Michael Haneke's Oscar-winning Amour hits raw emotions
Michael Haneke's 'Amour' touched a universal chord and earned Oscar honours with its moving portrayal of ageing and mortality, writes James Mottram
There isn't a more amazing story in cinemas this year than Amour. From winning at Cannes to gate-crashing the Oscars, Michael Haneke's elegant yet harrowing study of ageing and illness has defied conventional wisdom at every turn. In a business where youth is pandered to and old age ignored, this tale of a devoted Parisian couple facing their mortality would seem like box-office poison. Instead, it's turned into one of the toasts of the season, already grossing US$17 million at the global box office.
When it premiered in Cannes last May, it took the top prize, making Haneke just one of seven directors to win the Palme d'Or twice (he won in 2009 for The White Ribbon). It swept the European Film Awards this winter, winning best director, film, and actor and actress, for its stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva. It was the best foreign-language film at the Golden Globes, and best film not in the English language at the Baftas, with Riva named best actress at the latter, beating the American favourites, Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence.
Most surprising, however, is its showing at the Oscars - with Amour's award for best foreign-language film and four other nominations making for a genuine triumph. Usually confined to the best foreign-language film category (which The White Ribbon previously was nominated for, but did not win), non-English-language films rarely break into the main arena at the event organised and overseen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. With this film though, Haneke was nominated for best director (unlike Ben Affleck for Argo) and best screenplay (ditto Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master), and Riva became the oldest best actress nominee ever, turning 86 on the day of the ceremony itself.
At 70, the austere Austrian-raised Haneke is pragmatic when it comes to all this praise. A former philosophy and psychology student, who went from writing film criticism to working in TV and theatre, he has seen it all before. "If you win a prize, it's very flattering," he explains. "But more importantly, it improves the working conditions on your next film. It requires a certain courage to agree to produce the films that I make, and prizes lend courage."
That's certainly true. From the confrontational films he made about media violence ( Benny's Video, Funny Games) to the abrasive study of a masochist in The Piano Teacher (2001) and the gloomily apocalyptic Time of the Wolf (2003), Haneke's films are anything but easy on the eye or nervous system. Amour is different, however, with its story of two former music teachers, Georges (Trintignant) and Anne (Riva). When she suffers a stroke, he must care for her as she begins a painful and inexorable slide towards death.
Arguably Haneke's most accessible film to date, this doubtless accounts for why members of the Academy and others have taken to it. But what of Haneke: has he softened since turning 70? "You have to ask my wife," he grunts in reply. Does he see it as tender? He shakes his head. "You're always looking for an approach that's suited to the theme you're dealing with. And it's true that here, when you're dealing with love, the form is going to be different - than, for example, in Funny Games, which isn't about the same subject."