A scene from Amour
A well-off cultured Parisian couple struggle with the ravages of age and illness in Michael Haneke's drama, which won Palme d'Or at the 65th Cannes film festival in May. The film begins abruptly, as firemen break down the door to a luxurious Paris apartment and find an elderly woman's corpse on a bed, surrounded by flowers. Unlike such recent Haneke films as Hidden or The White Ribbon, there is no puzzle or political message here, just a portrait of decline, rendered with an uncharacteristic tenderness. The long-married couple in Amour are embodied by two living luminaries of French cinema: 81-year-old Jean-Louis Trintignant and 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva.
Oct. 8, 3 p.m. Vogue;
Oct. 12, 6:20 p.m. Granville 3