I like films that give the chance to veteran actors whom I love to play in significant roles, suitable for older age. This is the case of Andrew Haigh‘s ‘45 Years‘, a movie which brings together on screen Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay in two roles that seem to be written and conceived for them. It’s a movie that deserves all the attention even if it didn’t have these two wonderful actors in the lead roles, the story of a relationship in which the two partners reached the twilight of their lives, a marriage whose foundations are suddenly questioned by an extraordinary event that brings back in their lives an episode that was forgotten, which happened before the two met, but which proves to have influenced their lives and marriage.
Rampling and Courtenay are Kate and Geoff Mercer, an elderly and childless couple, living comfortably in the countryside suburbs of an English town, and preparing for a party to celebrate the 45th anniversary of their marriage. A letter from Switzerland brings to the man the news of the discovery of the body of his youth girlfriend, Katya, who had died more than half a century ago in an accident on a glacier at high altitude. The incident not only brings the memory of the missing young girl in between the two old spouses, but also questions their entire relationship and the marriage that seemed stable and lasting. Was Kate and Geoff’s marriage based on true and mutual love, or was Kate just a surrogate for Katya, the tragically missing young woman in Geoff’s life whom she had never met?
Charlotte Rampling‘s acting is splendid. She is the main character of the drama and is present almost permanently on the screen. She builds her role from silences, from gazes, from dialogues written with sensitivity and discretion, with a typically English discretion and dignity. As the revelations about the drama that happened half a century ago start to accumulate, the material from which the marriage of the two is built seems to be breaking down. Tom Courtenay is also excellent in a role almost as complex, and in a way even more mysterious than his wife’s. Has the love story from his youth been forgotten, or has it permanently accompanied him during the 45 years of marriage? Is his attempt to restart the marriage sincere or rather derived from social convenience? It is the spectators who will decide. The film is structured in a balanced and rhythmic way, it happens during six days of the week that flow in succession. Only the weather, as in England, is changing and looks every day differently, which allows the cinematography to resonate with the heroes’ moods. Andrew Haigh, a film director that I did not know before, manages to bring to screen in ‘45 Years‘ the story of an uncertain marriage in the sunset years of the protagonists. He does it with discretion, sensitivity and psychological depth. This movie might be better understood by viewers – how should I put it? – closer to the ages of heroes and with more life experience. But I think that it deserves to be seen and has a chance to satisfy all movie fans who appreciate love stories, beautiful and ambiguous as they often are in life, as well as quality films.