This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a fantastic and powerful movie... amazing performances, unrelenting realism... and then comes the ending. I REALLY DISLIKED the way it ended/began and think it undermined the integrity of the film. It was uncharacteristically sentimental. My guess is this was done to give the wider audience a slightly nicer-than-bleak tone? Why else would the director want us to believe that after he (presumably) kills himself (what on earth happens to his body???) the couple are re-united in the "afterlife". Hmmm. Sweet, but irrelevant to the story and superstitious speculation at best. The missing body, or the fact it was not alluded to at the start of the movie when her body is found, seems like an unnecessary and contrived ploy "to make us wonder", debate the ending etc... In this way it is contrived, perhaps a marketing department idea to create a "hook" for cinema goers to debate and therefore promote the movie. This missing body anomaly, and the fact that we are given the "feel good" token at the end seems entirely inconsistent with the rest of the movie - which is so beautifully real. So the ending (beginning) is really poor and somewhat spoils what would have been a masterpiece.… Expand

Emanuelle Riva richly earns her Oscar nomination but be prepared to feel that you are trapped for two hours in a disturbing, depressing French nursing home. I found myself thinking of another, brilliant French-language film, "The Barbarian Invasions," which had some similar themes. It's not quite fair to compare that one in which the dying man is surrounded with a boisterous cast of characters to this one, so focused on the quiet twosome. But I wish that I'd had more of a sense of the meaning of Anne's life before I had to witness her awful decline.… Expand

I enjoy "slice of life" movies but this one was just too much. The acting is fantastic, first-rate, rarely better. The plot is sort of familiar, elderly couple, long term marriage, one gets very sick before the other, and the movie focuses how the less ill spouse manages the more ill spouse. The movie begins with the unsurprising end, then painstakingly drags us down every dark hallway, bathroom kitchen, art museum, and on and on and on and on.......ad infinitum. The directors propensity to freeze shots, bereft of activity, meaning, or purpose, that seem endless. Not clear what he is trying to accomplish, what message he is trying to send, short of a veneer of seriousness or agony (in this case, of the viewer). This film is flat out boring and even incredible acting cannot bail it out.… Expand

Old age is tough and takes a lot of strength to deal with. And when the time comes and the natural decline sets in, love will help guide the toughest path ahead. Haneke has created a number of exceptional thrillers but none so horrific as Amour, his true masterpiece.

Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva play a Parisian couple in their 80s. When she has an attack, he nurses her thru the final agonizing days. Michael Haneke is a skilled director, who's at his most stark and dispassionate, which translates into interminable pacing, uncompromising camera and oblique narrative. If you like watching the deterioration of a woman in a detached, heavy and bleak atmosphere, you may appreciate this well-acted but agonizing (in so many ways) examination. Call me shallow, but I wasn't moved.… Expand

yes haneke is a stern and grand director, yes this movie is over hyped, yet... it is a very poignant story. what struck me the most was to watch riva and trintignant 50 or more years after their breakthrough roles and find them so powerful even if remote from the image they portrayed then. huppert is a surprise in every sense. the confined imagery, the apartment, the love story will indeed be iconic.… Expand

It’s alarming to see how savvy some filmmakers are becoming at knowing just what material and what “spin” will gain them big critical jackpots and festival jury prizes. "Amour" is a case in point and suggests that the line between demographic-massaging advertising agencies and shrewd, cachet-hunting filmmakers is diminishing at an alarming rate. The film is basically a genteel “infomercialomercial” that argues the case for euthanasia; it's an highly aggressive, in-your-face exercise and a very ONE-NOTE, highly aggressive, in-your-face exercise..........What it also has “going for it” in some circles at any rate- is the Jerry Springer-like touch of casting two well known stars of yesteryear, now in their 80s, in the lead roles. This brings an eerie Reality TV touch to the proceedings and something of a “frisson nouveau” to your card-carrying film buff audience (the demographic-massaging angle) Think how much, by way of comparison, the casting two relative unknowns would have affected the film’s reception...... In Teen Speak it would have been …..“B-O-R-R-R-I-N-G !!!”

Jean-Louis Trintignant in particular struggles to breath life into the sparse characterization that writer/director Haneke has provided for him. However his efforts are in vain, for the forces of “infomercial-hood” are aligned against him here and (even more artistically crippling) Haneke’s somewhat gleeful penchant for the morbid. This latter holds sway as his camera zooms in to capture every detail of the physical and mental disintegration of Trintignant‘s wife (the now 85-year-old star of "Hiroshima Mon Amour" Emmanuelle Riva.) Indeed, Riva’s character soon becomes a sort of laboratory specimen that Haneke is studying intently under the microscope “I wonder what will “go” next he seems to be asking himself, pencil in hand with the result that The Wife (which is the sort of generic entity that Riva is finally reduced to) ends up becoming disconcertingly like that giant bug that Gregor Samsa turns into in Kafka’s "The Metamorphosis" By contrast, one wonders what Jean Renoir or Douglas Sirk would have done with this material. The fact that Riva’s character is not particularly sympathetic to begin with only adds to the uneasiness- indeed, queasiness- we end up experiencing as we’re invited to observe the spectacle of her relentless undoing....... Sad to say, by that point in the film either this latter studying-the-bug-under-the-microscope sensation or else flat out boredom seem to be our only options. "Amour" is an award-winning and highly pretentious film and the two go together much too often for comfort these days.… Expand

Just another reminder to myself to look beyond rave reviews.

PROS: Strong actors. A cultured, music-filled context for the story.

CONS: The characters are simply not interesting or compelling people. We were led to believe that something "deep" was going on because of so much silence and empty space in the film. The male lead appropriately and scornfully dismissed a careless nurse, but did not treat his wife that well himself. While it's true that sometimes silence can be profound, it's also true that silence can be empty. Some films use sadness and space to communicate important and useful messages. This film was just a container for sadness and space. RECOMMENDATION: Don't go.… Expand

It is easy to lose sight of what love truly is. We toss it out recklessly, professing our love for sandwiches and video games. Amour does not shy away from the ugliness of love, as we often do, and instead embraces everything that encompasses a fulfilling, long-lasting relationship. It can be difficult to watch, because it presents its plot with subtlety and shies away from sentimentality. This approach may be challenging for some viewers, and unaffecting to some, but there is a poetic quality to this work that it may be impossible to not appreciate it.

The plot revolves around a musical elderly couple that must face the inevitability of death. Amour's brutal honesty about the subject is portrayed brilliantly by its two leads, both of who deserve award recognition for their work. Their relationship always remains strong throughout this endeavor, although they share different views of how this should play out. You can hardly blame them when they maltreat each other, since the situation is bound to evoke this sort of result. While the rest of the movie is quiet and meditative, the ending in particular brings such a bittersweet warmth through its ambiguity and artistic sensibilities that I was genuinely brought to tears. The film will stay with you after its conclusion, however, and it is sure to spark discussion and leave a lasting impression on you.… Expand

Amour features fine actors doing their best, but they also have to give performances that come from boring and never compelling characters. The story is simple and features plot points that aren't needed or particularly make sense. An original score would have been nice to hear because I was bored most of the time with it featuring long quiet scenes with no dialogue. Michael Haneke's Amour is a boring and undeniably pretty drama that manages to be forgettable. I give this movie 58%.… Expand

Amour is a hard to follow film, but it is one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. It is very touching and also rough, because it is noticeable the point that true love can reach. The movie portrayed an old woman with hemiplegia cause by a vascular accident with progressive decrease of brain activity and the future of the marriage will fall to her husband. What this picture is doing, is trying to figure out what is love, using apart from the plot, the script, the cameras and the performances. That is why the movie is so slow, with static camera movements and with people that evaluate what they are doing, because you cannot rush love, it is about patience and understanding. Everything in the film is well prepared, Michael Haneke definitely did an excellent job in directing and the protagonist couple is just brilliant, but I think is more Jean-Louis Trintignant than Emmanuelle Riva.… Expand

Amour is certainly not the worse film of the year. It is without a doubt the most boring. There are too many slow, silent and flat out wasteful scenes taking forever to complete. The worse part was all the times throughout the film were literally nothing is happening. This just sucks the emotion out of the entire movie.

In a perfect world Emmanuelle Riva would win the Oscar for Best Actress but then, in a perfect world, her co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant would at least have received a nomination for Best Actor and he didn’t. In “Amour”, the movie they costar in, they are not actors creating roles but real people you believe in, understand, feel for and identify with, no matter your age.

“Amour” is a ma�� is a mass of contradictions showing all sides of life and love and that neither life or love, or both, mean ‘happily ever after’. The film is a depressing one but, at the same time, shows you how two people can love each other without saying the words. We know how the movie will end because it starts with the police breaking into an apartment and finding Anne, (Emmanuelle Riva) dead in bed surrounded by flowers. After that the title is announced, the credits start and the next scene shows Anne and Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant), retired music teachers, at a concert given by a former student and then the following morning, when, at the breakfast table, she starts staring off into space and suffers a stroke caused by a blocked carotid artery .

The screenplay by Michael Haneke, who also directed, tells the story from the male point of view when half of a devoted team becomes a caretaker and watches the partner he has loved for so long deteriorate. At first he tries to handle it alone but it becomes too much and he hires two nurses but finds one treating his wife like a baby and taking away her dignity so with much rage showing in his eyes and controlled voice he tells her to get out. Their daughter Eva (Isabelle Huppert) lives overseas, very much involved with tensions between her and her husband, and has drifted from her parents though she remembers walking in on them when she was young and they were having sex, making love and enjoying it closing out the rest of the world, including her.

Watching Riva and Trintignant expressing love with touches, looks, smiles and memories makes you forget you are watching a movie with actors being told where to stand and what to say. You feel you are looking into a world very few couples ever experience and the consequences of life no matter how much you love someone.

“Amour” is a very slow moving movie but every moment counts and you get so caught up with the couple there are two points that you will involuntarily gasp as the whole audience does and when the movie ends you want it to go on. The ending caused many controversies between moviegoers as they walked out of the auditorium.

This is a special love story showing what can happen at the end rather than at the beginning of mating for life, for ‘better or worse’.

A MUST SEE MOVIE--HOPEFULLY WILL WIN OSCAR FOR BEST FOREIGN MOVIE!… Expand

Amour was an incredibly moving love story, from the masterful Michael Haneke. Its hard to imagine that a film about two geriatric lovers, told almost entirely in an apartment could be so enthralling. But it was! This is piece of art may easily bore some and its surely not for everyone, but it is very easy to appreciate it for what it is and what it delivers. On that note Emmanuel Riva gave a fantastic performance, as well as Jean-Louis Trintignant. Filmed with simplicity, Amour was a very dense film that challenges its viewers in every way.… Expand

This is a typical movie that film critics love but is hard to like. The wife of an elderly couple gets a stroke, and from there it goes downhill. The film is incredibly slow but also realistic and as the woman's health and mental state deteriorate it becomes more difficult for the man to cope with the situation and also for you as a viewer more irritating to watch. Watching this film is like spending time in a retirement home, it's depressing, you don't wanna stay longer then necessary and you're glad when it's over.… Expand

Arguably, the finest movie i've seen this year. Being as close to a masterpiece as a single movie can get, this uncompromising, gently quiet piece of art, masterfully purged from any form of sentimental glitch and kitsch, treats its audiences with unbelievable dignity and respect (which is so rare in the contemporary cinema), it poses the main questions and gives indefinite and countless frameworks for answering them. In the same time it tends to be "the ultimate horror movie". The repetitive disturbances and interruptions of the music which becomes it's leitmotif, the nightmares, the stares into the void, the pigeon and ultimately, its treatment of love and death in the context of George and Anne, make "Amour" even more disturbing then "The Seventh Continent".… Expand

Amour is a meticulous, demanding and a delicate psychological drama with a story and narrative beyond your imagination, it includes the elements of love, drama, and horror in a single storyline. The beginning is a mere proof that something is going to happen in the end, but how it would, and more importantly, WHY it would, reveals in the film through old memories, poetry and heart-warming conversations. A lot of people may not like this movie and think of it as garbage, which I know would happen but let me put it this way: Not everyone can understand the true meaning of this film. You have to understand what is going on, you have to think of the story from everyone… Expand

'Amour' is a tough one. On the one hand, 'Amour' is beautifully acted (particularly Emmanuelle Riva), impeccably directed, and wonderfully crafted and written. On the other hand, in terms of entertainment, its slow, it drags, and it's by no means an exciting topic. But, all of that is drowned out by 'Amour's' true beauty. Describing it in a few words? Devastatingly beautiful.

Amour is a masterpiece! Hanake portrays love at its most beautiful and brutal. Some of the scenes are so distressing, yet stunning. The Art direction and cinematography are visually sensational! and the acting from Emmanuelle Riva, is next to non, one of the greatest performances I have seen! Best film of 2012 and is possibly my favourite film of the last 10 years.

In my opinion its not a best picture contender, but Amour still brings a very strong plot and a direction that wil go down in history as one of the best ever.

Is the most intense and powerful movie that I ever watched. Never someone touched a scar like this before, Haneke as usual, torture the viewers with his perspective of the world. It's also the best movie of the year.

haneke's "white ribbon" was magnificent. deserved every accolade. 'amour', mais non. emmanuelle riva, oui. very, very overrated film, especially in comparison the haneke's earlier work. pretty much a big yawn.

The movie is boring, for some, because it is not for everyone, or all ages, the movie is highly disturbing, and interesting. it focuses on weak people, who can't handle an accident, although it is terrible, but LOVE of coarse, will connect everything, NOT IN THIS MOVIE!!

Ultimate cinematic perfection ! this film is the symbol of life and love. Not only is it beautifully crafted but the acting is impeccable highlighting the honest and true nature of the screenplay, in my eyes film can get no better .
Haneke is the best director of 2012 and produced the best film too.

Georges and Anne love each other. However, the film director gives us a mixed-up message regarding their relationship. At the beginning of the film, when the couple is at the kitchen table, Georges sees that the sugar bowl is empty, complains to her and gets upset. Moments later he gets irritated with her when she does not understand something he is talking about. Then they start to argue. Days later, when she is sick and he tries to give her some water, she gets angry and reacts in an unexpected manner. Georges response to her is shocking. Is this the first time, or has he done it before? This couple loves each other in their own particular way. They are not physically affectionate, I don’t think they kiss during the whole movie, I could be wrong. They don’t have either a loving extended family. Georges caresses a pigeon to get the tenderness he does not have. Georges face expression does not change the whole movie. He has a permanent expression of concern and numbness. He is empty, he is not, in the true sense of the word, alive. He is simply performing the task that has been handed to him. The title of the movie is “Amour” (Love). However when you leave the movie theater the last feeling you have is a loving feeling. You feel numb, empty, like Georges. It is like he has come out from the screen and swallowed you and you have become part of him. I think that this is an outstanding achievement of the director of the film. To have the ability to put the audience in such a mood. I think a very important aspect of the movie is to make you feel what Georges is feeling. Everything is going slow, you are most of the time in the corner of one room or at the bedside, there is almost not furniture, it is kind of dark.… Collapse

This movie is quite drawn-out and boring. The story being told provides you no reason to care about either of the main characters or to relate in any way to them. Not worth the two hours.

Amour is a formal masterpiece, which is not to say it isn't also a transporting cinematic experience. The characters are beautifully drawn and create empathy in the audience without resorting to banal cliches. Brilliant.

What makes Michael Haneke one of the greatest living filmmakers is that his films only get better! Amour's great visual storytelling, subtle dialogue, and graceful cinematography made this film a true artistic masterpiece! Haneke provides a real and articulate story that is not pretentious or preachy. While some may condemn "Amour" for being tedious and morally ambiguous, the greatest stories are not told with quick editing, fancy cinematography, and booms and bangs! The greatest stories are told with grace, subtlety, and love.… Expand