Plot
In the week leading up to their 45th wedding anniversary, a couple receive an unexpected letter which contains potentially life changing news.
Release Year: 2015
Rating: 7.5/10 (2,291 voted)
Critic's Score: 92/100
Director: Andrew Haigh
Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Dolly Wells
Storyline
In the week leading up to their 45th wedding anniversary, a couple receive an unexpected letter which contains potentially life changing news.
Writers: David Constantine, Andrew Haigh
Cast: Charlotte Rampling -
Kate Mercer
Tom Courtenay -
Geoff Mercer
Dolly Wells -
Charlotte
Geraldine James -
Lena
Hannah Chalmers -
Richard Cunningham -
Mr. Watkins
Michelle Finch -
Niece
Rufus Wright -
Jake
David Sibley -
George
Max Rudd -
Maître d'
Sam Alexander -
Chris the postman
Camille Ucan -
Cafe waitress
Charles Booth -
Jewellery shop Manager
Paul Goldsmith -
Brewery Security
Kevin Matadeen -
Waiter
Filming Locations: Norfolk Broads, Norfolk, England, UK
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
In several scenes, Tom Courtenay's character Geoff drinks his tea from a Hull City AFC mug: Tom is the President of the Hull City Official Supporters' Club. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 7/10
Andrew Haigh's latest film "45 Years" (2015) is one of the big film
events of this year and not least because of the memorable performances
of its two leading actors, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay. It's a
very simple film, granted, but exceptionally good as such. Both
performers do an excellent job. Haigh's narrative is character-driven
and never self-aware. All seems to be subjected to what is going on
inside these characters. The film has been shot in the beautiful
English countryside whose unreliable and unpredictable weather plays an
integral role in the drama of untold memories, hidden emotions, and
their appearance. It is a moving film about time and the complex
relations between the past and the present.
The story centers around a retired, childless couple, Kate (Rampling)
and Geoff (Courtenay) who have been married for 45 years. One day Geoff
receives a letter telling him that the body of his ex-lover before his
marriage, Katya, has been found fully preserved in the Swiss glaciers.
This event as well as the approaching arrival of their 45th anniversary
coerces the couple into re-evaluating their relationship, the choices
they have made in life, and their deepest desires.
This story, based on a short story by David Constantine, is itself
great in its simplicity, but Haigh also deals with it in an exquisite
fashion. He has chosen not just the perfect performers for the roles
but also the perfect milieu of the English countryside which works as a
barometer for the characters' emotions. Haigh utilizes a moving camera
and lingering, though not strikingly long, shots. He uses a wide range
of different shots ranging from long full shots of the landscapes to
medium close-ups of Kate's seemingly calm face which encapsulates her
powerful eyes where a lot of emotion is going on that she is unable to
express in words or gestures. Repeatedly, Haigh places Rampling
wandering in the milieu, defining the character's relationship with the
space that surrounds her. These scenes may strike as excessive to some,
but one ought to relate them to the 45 years, to the time that is
embodied in these five days before the anniversary celebration.
The title of the film refers to a time gone by, but the film takes
place strictly (that is, flashbacks are excluded) in the present. The
past finds form in the memory of Katya, the ghost in the couple's life
who Kate never really knew. Katya, as the embodiment of the past, is a
threat to the presence. It is as if she mocked the living in her death
that has saved her from aging unlike Kate and Geoff. Geoff also takes a
sudden interest in climate change, a powerful symbol not only for the
slow eruption of drama for the couple but also the emergence of Katya,
the past, beneath the surface. In a key scene, where Kate goes to their
attic to study Geoff's old travel photos from the trip to Switzerland
where Katya died, the slide projector -- offering the truths from the
past -- is the only source of light and sound in an otherwise dark and
silent present. In the long take, which covers the whole scene, we can
sense the danger of the past swallowing the present, the danger of Kate
falling into the glacier that once engulfed Katya.
Overall, "45 Years" is an extremely simple film. It bears no social nor
metaphysical connotations. Formal elements serve the development of
drama and character psychology. One can't really, however, talk about
the subordination of style for the service of story because the
external story is veritably marginal. It is, above all, an inner drama,
taking place inside the characters. In all its simplicity, "45 Years"
is a subtle, yet emotionally bursting film about the fragility,
incompleteness, and vulnerability of life and love which have already
lasted through a lot and grown in the process.
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