Amour

Michael Haneke wrote the script directly for Jean-Louis Trintignant, who returned to the screen with it after 14 years. He had done the same before, writing The Piano Teacher for Isabelle Huppert and Caché for Daniel Auteuil. The starting point was a situation in his own family, and he says his subject is not old age or death but how one handles the suffering of someone loved. Shooting ran from 7 February to 1 April 2011. It took the Palme d’Or at the 65th Cannes, Haneke’s second after The White Ribbon in 2009. At the 85th Academy Awards it won Best Foreign Language Film for Austria and lost four: Best Picture, Directing, Actress in a Leading Role and Original Screenplay. The ceremony fell on 24 February 2013, Emmanuelle Riva’s 86th birthday; she was, to that date, the oldest nominee in that category. At the 66th BAFTAs two of its four nominations turned into wins, Leading Actress and Film Not in the English Language. The European Film Awards gave it Best Film and Best Director. A good fit if you accept care work standing in for plot: a nurse hired three days a week, a second one dismissed for mistreating Anne. Not for anyone who has just taken on the care of a relative; the film closes on a mercy killing.