Amour

[Kellen]

SPOILERS


I watched this yesterday and I found it to be difficult.  I don't mean that to sound like the filmmaking is bad or anything, I had lost my grandmother last year and she stayed with us until the end (she died from lung cancer).  Anyways, watching this film it was pretty raw and emotional because everything that had happened to Anne happened to my grandma and I remember it vividly.  The random noises from pain, gradually losing the ability to communicate with other people, the times when you could tell she just wanted to die.  As I was watching the film I thought about how it was depicted in a normal manner and it didn't make it this 'hollywood' like production.  Then came the smothering scene;  It shocked me my mouth was open I really didn't know what to think.  I understand that Anne was a shell of herself and she more than likely didn't want anyone/let alone her soul mate see her deteriorate like but it was just sooooo I dunno out of the norm from the film I felt.  The part with Georges chasing the pigeon cheered me up, I don't know why really.  This was one of the most raw and emotional times I've had watching a picture.

I have no idea what Haneke's other films are like.  Are they all bleak (I know that probably isn't the right word),  I've caught like 4 minutes of Cache on television...

[Alexandro]

dude put a SPOILER warning before you reveal, you know, spoilers...

[jenkins]

enjoyed the samsong/wilderesque conversation

And it poses a fundamental question about the human condition: Who am I? Is the "me" you know an "image". When Anne deteriorates mentally and physically, is that a perversion of her true essence, the woman Georges knows and loves, or was the woman Georges knew and loved merely a transient state of being, albeit the longest state, but this other thing Anne has become, this "monster" (which she accuses him of being sometimes during the same breakfast conversation) an equally valid state of humanity? When Georges smothers her, even though he's remaining loyal to the wishes of the Anne he knew, is there also just a revulsion to a form of humanity just as valid, but that everyone has difficulty admitting is part of the human condition?

great, great. really great.

their performances struck me as being brave and true.  i simply can't say the same about the film on the whole.

feel like i lean in this direction.

wish to propose a direct reading of the pigeon, and to suggest that it's not a symbol of another thing, but a symbol of itself as a living creature. it's life. and life exists as both the external substance of the total world and the internal substance of our individual selves.

when the pigeon first visits, late in the movie, georges has begun the process of sealing the apartment. few visitors, ignored messages, rare excursions, etc. georges reduces his world's size to apartment dimensions, in order to maximize the value of his encounters with dying anne, whom he clearly treasures. it's consistent to this mental state at the time that he'd get rid of the pigeon right away.

when the pigeon visits next, post-death, its value has complexities. georges has lost a battle for life. and when he holds the pigeon he first wants to crush it, i think, 'cause it lives when anne doesn't -- but it's meaningful that he doesn't crush the pigeon, 'cause it demonstrates he's a hurting man who's mostly clear in the head. a broken, mean person would crush the pigeon. maybe he thinks for a second that's who he is. but when the pigeon is in his arms, something else overtakes him, a feeling of tenderness. he recalls the special value of life. he pets the pigeon and holds it 'cause it's a symbol of life and anne being alive and he wants her alive.

it's all so horribly sad. this isn't my type of movie at all. it's probably a masterpiece.

[Cloudy]

This was masterful in the most truthful way. I still can't wear this film off of me, it's given me a completely refreshed understanding and relationship with death. Most films cannot do this, but this one did for me. I really loved reading through these discussions you guys are having. I dig Junkie's interpretations of the pigeon A LOT. It really was an insightful read. And this is all without even talking about the level of pure FILMMAKING involved in this. This was truly beautiful.

Done with the gushing.

[wilder]

Interiors Journal on Amour