TOM TANGNEY

The most obscure Best Picture Oscar nominee – ‘Amour’

Jan 25, 2013, 7:49 AM | Updated: 8:00 am

The French film “Amour” has already racked up a lot of honors, including the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, a Golden Globe, and now five Oscar nominations including best picture, actress, director and screenplay.

Of all the Oscar nominees up for Best Picture, the most obscure, I suppose, is the French film “Amour.” But before you dismiss its chances out of hand, remember another French movie won last year. Sure it was mostly a silent, but still no one thought “The Artist” had a chance at first blush either.

That being said, “Amour” is never going to be a crowd pleaser.

For one thing, it’s astonishingly narrow in its focus, and its subject matter is as severe and unpopular as one can imagine.

“Amour” painstakingly follows a long-married couple now in their eighties. They’re relatively well-to-do former musicians who lead modestly active lives, reading the latest books and magazines, keeping up with current news of the day, and occasionally attending concerts by their former students. Most of their time is spent quietly in their apartment, doing the mundane work of living – eating breakfast together, talking and joking with each other, getting ready for bed. It’s the definition of a shared life.

When the wife has a stroke, that dynamic changes some but not a lot. He helps her in and out of her wheelchair, in and out of bed, he washes her hair for her, but otherwise life goes back to normal. Or so it seems. Every so often, their conversations turn to
matters personal and philosophical – about the beauty of life and about its limits. Those limits become more and more apparent as the movie proceeds.

At one point, a former student writes them a thank you note, calling his visit with them “a beautiful and sad moment.” That’s also a perfect grace note for this movie.

And the two veteran French movie stars are astonishingly believable as the old married couple. Emmanuelle Riva more than earned her surprise Oscar nomination for Best Actress. At 85, she’s the oldest Oscar nominee ever. Here’s hoping she becomes the oldest Oscar winner as well.

Tom Tangney

Belfast...

Tom Tangney

Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Belfast’ is a crowd-pleaser that doesn’t quite hit the mark

"Belfast" has plenty to recommend itself but it's not nearly the moving testament to fraught times that Kenneth Branagh thinks it is or wants it to be.

2 years ago

Eternals, Marvel...

Tom Tangney

‘Eternals’ has to do a lot of heavy lifting for a single film

Imagine the daunting task Marvel sets for itself in "Eternals." It has to introduce 10 new superheroes, not to mention an entirely new cosmology.

2 years ago

French Dispatch...

Tom Tangney

‘The French Dispatch’ is unmistakably Andersonian

Wes Anderson is an acquired taste. But luckily, after 10 full-length movies, most critics and many movie-goers have acquired it.

2 years ago

Dune...

Tom Tangney

All set-up and no payoff: ‘Dune’ is world’s longest and most expensive trailer

It's hard to find the right metaphor for the new "Dune" movie. Whatever comparison you choose, it must reflect a sense of incompletion.

2 years ago

Last Duel...

Tom Tangney

Poor Marguerite’s story saves ‘The Last Duel’

Tom Tangney says, ultimately, The Last Duel is a proto-feminist take on the Middle Ages with Marguerite's take that brings the film into focus.

2 years ago

James Bond...

Tom Tangney

Daniel Craig’s final James Bond movie comes full-circle

The 25th installment in the James Bond movie franchise may be titled "No Time to Die," but "Too Much Time to Die" may be more fitting.

3 years ago

The most obscure Best Picture Oscar nominee – ‘Amour’