“I
give the spectator the possibility of participating. The audience completes the
film by thinking about it; those who watch must not be just consumers ingesting
spoon-fed images.”
This
quote by Haneke makes it clear why there are lots of debates about his last
movie, Amour. Michael Haneke is a
director who does not want to make the audience stay out of his movies. On the
contrary, he puts the audience in the centre of his movies. Then, he provokes
us by showing the images which are both shocking and touching. By doing this,
he makes his own style which is very unique and effective.
His
last movie Amour perfectly fits
Haneke’s movie codes. He lets us in a house and does not let us out. We watch
the characters’ suffering, happiness, and their emotions in the most
comfortable place for them: their own house. There, we are just like guests of a
couple, who are rather old, but very happy until the female character, Anne,
has an attack and paralyses.
From
this point, both characters’ test begins. Georges, Anne’s husband, wants to
take care of Anne although their daughter insists that her mother should need a
professional care. Haneke does not give answers to his audience. On the
contrary, he makes us think about true meaning of love. In a totally different
perspective, behaviour of some characters can be considered as selfish in the
movie. That’s why every single people who watch this movie will have different
points of view.
The
most powerful part of this movie is the actors and actresses who have starring
roles. Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant’s performance are to
perfection. There is a perfect harmony between them, which can be observed form
the beginning till the end. While watching, you just simply forget that they
are acting. In my opinion, this also shows that Haneke knows how to impress his
audience.
Overall,
Amour is one of the best of 2012. It
has won lots of awards and it is nominated five Oscars including “Best Motion
Picture of the Year.” Although Haneke says that he does not make his films to
win awards, Amour certainly deserves
it all. However, I should warn you about one point: Amour is not a soft movie to watch (especially it is not like the
movies which claim that they are about “love”). It is slow, touching and
sometimes irritating like all of the movies by Haneke. If you want to be a
guest to Haneke’s world, you should be prepared for it.
Kaan Akin
(ELIT II)