Each new Michael Haneke release tends to be accompanied with the words ‘masterpiece’ and ‘his best yet’ but it is an opinion I don’t always subscribe to. That is until Amour because this is undoubtedly a masterpiece and quite possibly his greatest achievement as a director too. These words are lofty praise indeed but fully deserved as this is his most humane, challenging and beautifully judged work to date and may well be the great film of the decade.

Deserved hyperbole out of the way, Amour, is a work of art that could only ever have been created by Haneke. It is a film as uncompromising and rigorous in its examination of its subject matter as all of his previous…

Jarring, moving, confrontational, emotive and deeply sincere. Any great piece of art should possess one or more of these qualities and Haneke's film simply possesses them all. And for me personally, I'd like to add soul searing.

I am not that familiar with Haneke's work and the films I have seen by his hand range from brilliant to boring for me. But they all have one thing in common, they are relentless to their audience and their themes. It is therefore intriguing by default when someone like Haneke decides to explore love.

This is a story that excels in its simplicity. What happens when life long lovers face the inevitable, death? How do they cope? In many a writer's hand,…

Not much to say, but I guess "this bored me" won't quite hack it, so let me try a little harder:

1) I don't have a good track record with Haneke, who I'm firmly convinced is a sadist masquerading as a smug moralist, but I'm not a total hater (Code Unknown is pretty great; Cache is terrifically suspenseful, though it fails to say much of anything besides "FIE, FRANCE, FOR NOT ACKNOWLEDGING THE ALGERIAN WAR"). I didn't go into this wanting to hate it, because I don't do that and that's no way to go through life.

2) This seems rather monumentally pointless — "a hyper-lucid demonstration of his theme," sez Jonathan Romney, to be sure, and I'm not necessarily…

Things will go on, and then one day it will all be over.
-Georges

Even though I saw Amour kept popping up on Letterboxd User's entries with high star ratings, I still didn't read the reviews. I just don't like reading reviews for films I haven't seen yet. Then I realized it was directed by Michael Haneke and didn't bother looking up anything more on the film. Not because I hate the director, but because I planned on watching the film and had a small inkling of what I was in for. I find the best way to tackle a film by Haneke is to have ZERO preconceived notions on what you're about to watch otherwise the film will drop…

I have no idea where to begin. No idea what to say. No idea how to say anything. Nearly two years ago now, I saw Michael Haneke's film Cache and from the moment it started, I was spellbound. Hooked on Haneke. I gradually began to seek out more of his work until I had seen every feature. The Seventh Continent, Code Unknown, Cache and The White Ribbon garnered perfect, 10/10 ratings. His other films I also hold in very high regard.

Then along came Amour. It didn't come from nowhere. I knew Haneke was working on it for a while, and I followed its progress eagerly. Finally it had its premiere at Cannes, and was met with enormous critical praise…

Part of the December Project: Film #39

Michael Haneke's new film is one that is more than appropriately titled. It has a title that manages to include all the emotional depth the film has but does not show. It's a single word, and one that brings up a variety of emotions. When you hear it and dwell on it, you can see a couple. The couple doesn't have to be extraordinarily happy, but they are content. With a single word, we can think about every thing that couple has ever been through. Good times and bad.

Amour. It's a word of one meaning, but many feelings.

Where Amour takes place though isn't at the beginning of a relationship, or even…