Amour

Amour follows Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva), a cultivated octogenarian couple and retired piano teachers living in a spacious Paris apartment. Their peaceful existence is shattered when Anne suffers a stroke during breakfast, leaving her paralyzed on one side. Georges honors her wish to never be taken back to the hospital, becoming her primary caregiver as her condition progressively deteriorates.

As Anne suffers a second stroke and slips further into dementia and physical helplessness, their apartment becomes a hermetically sealed world. Their daughter, Eva (Isabelle Huppert), visits but is unable to cope with the brutal reality of her mother's decline or understand her father's refusal to institutionalize her. The film chronicles the grueling daily rituals of caregiving, testing the limits of Georges' devotion and dignity.

The narrative moves unflinchingly toward a tragic resolution, exploring the blurred lines between mercy and murder. It is a portrait of love stripped of all sentimentality, remaining only as a fierce, painful duty to witness and accompany a partner to the very end of their existence.

At its heart, Amour is a meditation on the physical reality of abstract vows. Haneke interrogates the meaning of 'undying love' when faced with the literal death of the personality and body. The film suggests that true love is not just romance, but the excruciating burden of bearing witness to suffering and making impossible ethical choices to preserve a loved one's dignity. It posits that death is not a sudden event but a process that love must endure, even if it means destroying the object of that love to save them from humiliation.

The Ending: The final scene where Georges leaves the apartment with a 'healthy' Anne is widely interpreted as Georges' death. Some view it as a hallucination before he commits suicide (perhaps by jumping out the window, or starvation). Others see it as a spiritual representation of their souls reuniting.

The Pigeon: While Haneke claims it is 'just a pigeon,' critics have interpreted it as Anne's soul returning to say goodbye, or as a symbol of the 'Holy Spirit' offering peace. The fact that Georges captures it (death) but then releases it (letting go) suggests he has found peace with his action.

Amour is widely considered a masterpiece of 21st-century cinema. It won the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival (Haneke's second win) and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It sparked intense global debate about euthanasia and end-of-life care, forcing audiences to confront the taboo realities of aging that cinema usually sanitizes. Critics praised its unsentimental humanism, with many calling it the most honest film ever made about death. It solidified Haneke's reputation not just as a provocateur, but as a deeply empathetic, albeit severe, observer of the human condition.

Praised: Audiences and critics alike were astounded by the raw, naturalistic performances of Trintignant and Riva. The direction was lauded for its restraint and respect for the subject matter. It is often described as 'perfect but painful.'
Criticized: Some viewers found the film too slow, depressing, or 'clinical.' The lack of music and the static camera work alienated mainstream audiences expecting a traditional tearjerker. A minority found the suffocation scene horrific and morally objectionable.
Verdict: Universally respected as a cinematic achievement, but often categorized as a 'watch once' film due to its emotional heaviness.