The film opens with men barging the door down on a Parisian apartment. The stench from inside is ovrwhelming. Windows flung open on the city of lights. Air is needed. Life is gone. Anne lies there decomposing. Flashback: Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) is happily married to her longtime love Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and it’s very clear they do everything together from attend the ballet to boil the kitchen eggs. And Georges is still a romantic – telling Anne she looked pretty tonight. They share a deep sacred love. The kind that we all cherish.
And then Anne disappears. Not physically from the room, but physically as Anne. Qu est-ce qu’il y a? What is wrong? She’s slowly dying. It’s the beginning of the end. Without blow up special effects, minus the 3 D, this big film set in a small apartment will undoubtedly win best foreign film of 2012. This is the movie anybody might be afraid to direct, might be afraid to even watch, but eagrly want to understand so they stay riveted to Georges love, loss, age, time, passage and finally death. It’s painfully horrible to see this elegant older woman be fitted for a diaper. It could be me, it could be you. It will be me, it will be you. One day. But for now, this is the most poignant life embracing love story out there. ♔ ♕ ♚ ♛