Another week, another film picked because we do what we feel. And coincidentally, I do feel like I’ve aged significantly in the last 6 months.
The Film:
45 Years
The Premise:
A couple’s 45th anniversary preparations are interrupted by memories of an old romance.
The Uncondensed Version:
Kate is a retired teacher who has been married for 45 years(?!?!!?!). She’s all geared up for a big celebration as the 40th anniversary party was cancelled due to her husband’s poor health.
While she’s deciding on venue and a million little details that would make me lose my mind, husband Geoff has received news of significance from the Swiss Alps. The body of his ex, Katya, has finally been recovered after decades.
This prompts Geoff’s sudden and urgent desire to go to the Alps even though he’s not well enough to travel such a distance, let alone climb a mountain. Kate and Geoff more or less return to things as usual, except that he’s not picking up her calls and has taken up smoking again.
That is, until Geoff reveals he was the next of kin for Katya, hence the notification from the Swiss authorities. Geoff explains he and Katya simply told the Swiss they were married to avoid the scandal of being an unmarried couple staying together. But if Geoff was hiding one thing about Katya, how much else has he kept hidden?
By and large, Kate keeps her doubts to herself and continues to go about the couple’s regular routine. They do share some genuine moments of love and connection reminiscing about the past, and they still have a sexually active relationship.
On the other hand, Geoff seems as determined to dwell on his past with Katya as he is to keep its true nature a secret. After finally confronting Geoff about how he felt about Katya and its impact on their own relationship, she gets fed up and no longer wants to even hear the name.
Kate decides to go up to the attic (never a good decision on film) and look for more clues about who Katya was and her relationship to Geoff. After discovering a bombshell, Kate doesn’t know what to think of their relationship and whether their 45 years of marriage meant anything.
Are Kate and Geoff going to make it to their 45th anniversary celebration? And if they do, will there be anything left worth celebrating?
The Rating:
3.5/5 Pink Panther Heads
I only started to warm to this one about halfway through, at which point it becomes great in a heartbreakingly tragic sort of way. The focus here is rightly on Kate/Charlotte Rampling, whose heartbreak we can see in her face if not in words. It is very reflective on marriage and the ways people can still very much hide things about themselves after years and years. I can tell I’ve watched too much horror because I expected Geoff to somehow be involved with Katya’s death even though this is not that kind of movie at all. The latter half is really great, but for me it took a long time to get there.
The Pink Panther Snipes Again 
I also thought it would turn out that Geoff was the master of Katya’s destiny. I thought that would be the dark secret. The actual secret was bad enough but only because it was a secret, kept for so long. God, the lies people tell, eh? I liked this a lot and enjoyed the moodiness of it, it hurt my heart and head. But still, maybe it would have been pumped up to a 5/5 if Geoff was a crazed murderer! xo
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