X
- 2015
- R
- Sundance Selects
- 1 h 35 m
- 2015
- R
- Sundance Selects
- 1 h 35 m
Summary There is just one week until Kate Mercer's (Charlotte Rampling) 45th wedding anniversary and the planning for the party is going well. But then a letter arrives for her husband (Tom Courtenay). The body of his first love has been discovered, frozen and preserved in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps. By the time the party is upon them, f...
Directed By: Andrew Haigh
Written By: David Constantine, Andrew Haigh
- 2015
- R
- Sundance Selects
- 1 h 35 m
- 2015
- R
- Sundance Selects
- 1 h 35 m
45 Years
7.3
Where to Watch
Summary There is just one week until Kate Mercer's (Charlotte Rampling) 45th wedding anniversary and the planning for the party is going well. But then a letter arrives for her husband (Tom Courtenay). The body of his first love has been discovered, frozen and preserved in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps. By the time the party is upon them, f...
Directed By: Andrew Haigh
Written By: David Constantine, Andrew Haigh
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
94
100% Positive
36 Reviews
36 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 36 Critic Reviews
94
100% Positive
36 Reviews
36 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
45 Years is very much an English film and in the best sense. It’s subtle, understated and ultimately devastating, but only if you’re paying attention.
If you prefer acting prowess over “Star Wars,” you won’t do better at year’s end than observing Rampling (she of the withering stare) and Courtenay (he of the soulful gaze), two stalwarts of that wonderful wave of British talent that hit our shores in the ‘60s, as they perform a finely calibrated pas de deux.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 187 User Ratings
7.3
74% Positive
138 Ratings
138 Ratings
18% Mixed
33 Ratings
33 Ratings
9% Negative
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 187 User Ratings
7.3
74% Positive
138 Ratings
138 Ratings
18% Mixed
33 Ratings
33 Ratings
9% Negative
16 Ratings
16 Ratings
A wonderful mixture of drama and pathos as Charlotte Rampling's character, on the eve of her 45th wedding anniversary, finds out her husband's heart has lain frozen in the ice in Switzerland for all that time. A great use of analogy to describe the secrets that we all hide as we go through life. A superb, thought-provoking film, all the better for its understated nature.
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Of all of the Oscar Nominees this year, I have had my life changed by zero. I watched them, enjoyed them, and forgot about them for the most part by the next day. There are some exceptions. I thought about The Big Short over the course of the following week to see if I could understand the housing bubble better in my head, I thought about how Room made me feel while I was falling asleep that night after I saw it, but I've thought about the last 10 minutes of 45 Years more than all of the Best Picture Nominees combined. This was one of those movies that lingers in your head so much, The Cranberries could have written a song about it. Let me preface, this movie is only 90 minutes, and the first 80 are so incredibly slow it's like you're being forced to watch How It's Made in High School P.E., but boy does it pay off. The ending of this movie punches you in the gut with so much futility you'll think Gone Girl had a happy ending. I will also preface this movie is not for people who disapprove of sad endings, this movie can only be described as "Soul-crushing." Also, don't bring a date if you want the relationship to last. Couples should have at least 10 years of bliss under their belt, or be confident enough to claim they're the next Niles and Daphne Crane. This movie was finally able to do what no other movie in 2015 ((obviously) other than Star Wars) could, think, feel, and remember why I watch movies in the first place.
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It’s a film of small moments and tiny gestures that leaves a very, very big impression.
Courtenay is a gruff and gratifyingly knotty presence, but in the end it’s Rampling’s movie. In a quiet, beautifully calibrated performance completely stripped of actressy tricks, she’s a revelation.
[A] sensitive and devastating portrait of a long, happy marriage in sudden crisis.
At some point in her 50-year career, Rampling became one of the world’s great actresses. Driven by her and Courtenay’s work, and by director Andrew Haigh’s limpid style, the film is devastating.
Do not expect blazing emotional fireworks, just finely calibrated performances and deep reserves of inner torment.
This film, while slow building, is an absolute marvel. Rampling and Courtenay are both incredible, the story is well done, and the emotion that is hidden beneath the surface is so well created that it makes the whole movie all that more powerful. The end scene is nothing short of perfection, and I cannot thinking of a movie that has had me thinking more after the credits all year.
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The two leading actors were masterful - and they had to be, given the spareness of the script. They carried it off, and there was enough suspense, as revelations came, to keep me patient with the very slow pace. Two questions, though: Why couldn't we have some dialogue between Kate and her female friend, re: what she's learned about Geoff's past? It actually felt a bit strange that she didn't bring it up with her, and the missed opportunity seemed like a case of underwriting.
Also, the choice of a song to open & close the film: Who on earth would choose "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" at their wedding, or anniversary celebration? Do you listen to the lyrics? Again, it was implausible and/or lazy, in my opinion: It fits at the end, but come on!
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Great acting, poor script. Okay, I'm American, there are countries in the world (China) where the person you marry is expected to be pure (a virgin.) So the woman character finds out her husband's old girlfriend might have been pretty serious, or not, and she's bent out of shape. YIKES! that was 55 years ago and the girlfriend died in an accident. Get over it. So the story line is hard to accept, but the acting, superb. Her facial expressions and body language, she doesn't have to speak lines. She should have won the Oscar.
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This is one of those movies that all the critics love, possibly for some perverse, sadistic reason, but the typical movie goer is likely to hate. It is slow, excruciatingly slow. There's a thin line between artistic and tedious that this exercise in tedium never crosses over.
Mercifully it's only 91 minutes long, but it feels like an eternity. I've always been a big Charlotte Rampling fan but hated this movie anyway. Do yourself an enormous favor and don't go.
CONTAINS NO SPOILERS
45 Years is a self-spoiler.
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Production Company
BFI Film Fund,
British Film Institute (BFI),
Creative England,
Film4,
National Lottery through UK Film Council,
The Bureau,
The Match Factory
Release Date Dec 23, 2015
Duration 1 h 35 m
Rating R
Tagline Do we really know our loved ones?
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
London Critics Circle Film Awards
• 3 Wins & 6 Nominations
British Independent Film Awards
• 6 Nominations
