Amour (Haneke, 2012): Mini-Film Review

Just like one of the classical music CDs that Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) and Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) listen to in Amour, Michael Haneke's 2012 film is like a record that one plays again from the beginning as soon as it ends. After all, the beginning of the film is the ending of the film, linked by memory as the credits roll in silence, while the film's ending itself is a new beginning. Because it is Haneke, we have come to expect, correctly, an extreme representation of tension, something psychologically bleak and violent. Yet it is the film's daily, mundane depictions of age, frailty, and relationships that captivate here.