Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Amour

What is it about the pensioner crowd at cinemas? A friend and I had a run of them a few years ago where there were disruptive old folk at every film we went to. The highlight was a viewing of Gone Baby Gone where a nice elderly gentleman whispered loudly during the opening scene. 'He can't park there!' he said in outrage as the character pulls into a no standing zone.

So tonight at the start of Amour a pack of pensioners joined the very empty cinema. Right next to us, in the back row - rows A to F entirely empty. They giggled, shared mints (the ones in the noisy tins) and made the occasional (actually quite regular) comments throughout the film. Not to matter. The film is about an old couple coping with imminent death so I guess the rowdy group get dibs on that subject matter. 

The film is worth seeing on the big screen.  It is a subtle piece about a difficult topic and is restrained, still and quite deliberately slow. For once I didn't cry. I won't point fingers, but someone else did which proves this film is incredibly sad and touching. There are moments of beauty, love and glimpses of the past all intertwined with the jangling of eclipse mints.

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