Here’s the other one I have been dreading, basically for the exact opposite reason: I am very fond of this film, and I think it’s a very fine example of my current favorite film genre “marriage dramas” (which have replaced “threesome comedies” by now for almost obvious personal reasons, although it’s hard to beat “Trouble in Paradise” with a marriage drama film, even Bergman can’t). I liked the film so much but was also unable to sort through my thoughts about it, even though the film itself is far from complicated. What is complicated is definitely how people read the film. The question “Are they actually a good match?” lingers over the whole film and critics seem extremely divided upon this question, some even seem to have a lot of vitriol against this kind of dormant relationship as a whole.
There is another slightly special circumstance to be mentioned, which is that I saw this film on silent on the airplane much like I did with “Amour” back then (another example of a great marriage drama). I chose the film casually because at the back of my mind I always want to see all the Berlinale films I kind of planned to see but didn’t. This one wasn’t even an originally planned film (because it ran in the Competition), but after I saw the large media buzz about it my interest in the film grew with time. Usually I want to see something that doesn’t mean too much to me on an airplane, but more often than not, I am pleasantly surprised. Maybe next time I should actually see a blockbuster after all.
45 Years
So I missed out on the spoken words and the film music, but even then the film managed to absolutely captivate me. I was devastated upon Kate’s discovery in the attic, and I thought that “plot twist” was more shocking than anything I saw in “The skin I live in”, even if the twist may be a little bit of a cliché. I strongly felt for her (I did so throughout the whole film actually), and the titular 45 years weighed really heavily on me. Kate and Geoff kind of live exactly the kind of life I want to live someday, except that even in this kind of cushy life a seemingly small thing could open up such a can.
I think the biggest draw of the film comes from how the simple storyline is deceptive because there is no good solution to these questions about their relationship. Is it really a betrayal (considering everything that’s bothered her was from so long ago)? Is he or is she being unreasonable about their situation? What is more like “true love” – a wild romantic mountain trip or 45 years of marriage? Over the course of time I thought about this film a lot (which usually doesn’t happen at all – case in point, I rarely think about “The Lobster” despite having loved the film more and considering that it also poses a lot of interesting questions about relationships). This is probably because I find it uncannily true to life, more than many others I have seen. Maybe this is the airplane effect (supposedly you are more emotional on airplanes), but I think it’s amazing that a relationship film about two old people made such an impact on me.