45th Anniversary, as the name suggests, is a story about the six days of the Mercers preparing for their 45th wedding anniversary. English town, idyllic countryside, middle-class couple, everything is balanced just right. In the peaceful countryside, everything is perfect, and there is always unease lurking in ambush.
On the first day of preparations for the anniversary, a letter tipped the balance.
It turned out that the body of her husband Jeff's ex-girlfriend was discovered. In 1962, they were climbing a mountain in Switzerland together, and the ex-girlfriend fell off a cliff. The husband was caught up in his memories of the past, and he lamented that she was still the same as she was 50 years ago.
The husband said that when his ex-girlfriend died, he still wore the ring he gave. Although it was not really married, it showed the depth of their love.
Kate was a little overwhelmed by the sudden change.
Under Kate's questioning, the husband revealed the secret step by step. Husband and ex-girlfriend Katya originally planned to go to Italy. They were each other's most soulful companions. As a result, Katya fell to her death while climbing a mountain. Talking about the past, her husband's eyes are full of nostalgia.
1962 was the year Katya fell off the cliff and the year Kate's mother died. They both keep secrets from each other.
In this episode, the camera moves between Jeff and Kate, and as Jeff tells their story, Kate's expression gradually becomes complicated.
On the first night, Kate, who had heard the truth, turned off the lights with seriousness, and the shadows subtly framed the shape of the iceberg cliffs. The cliffs of the iceberg are both the setting for that story and a metaphor for Jeff and Kate's emotional rift (please open larger image).
When my husband learned about this, he seemed to be in a daze. He went to the library to look for books about melting glaciers, and he muttered about going to Switzerland.
The next night, Kate and Jeff danced together as they chatted about friends and reminisced about their shared past. At the same time also made a long-lost love.
When she wakes up at night, Kate finds that Jeff went to the attic to find pictures of his ex-girlfriend. The shared memory is defeated by the husband's secret.
In the evening, the husband continued to talk about his memories of his ex-girlfriend, and his eyes brightened a lot. The husband said that if the accident hadn't happened, he would definitely go to Italy with his ex-girlfriend to get married.
Kate sadly realizes that she is merely a substitute for her husband's emotions.
The husband said they were soul-mates, and Kate said "it's just climbing together".
The husband got angry, said "I'm sleepy" and turned to sleep.
As Kate continues to prepare for the wedding, she searches for the truth. She finds more secrets in the attic, a notebook full of love, some pictures of ex-girlfriends. She played the photos, the lights flickered on Kate's face, and the complexity in her heart was indescribable.
At this time, Kate still has to free up the mood to prepare for the anniversary, choose dance music, and feel like she is also involved in weaving lies.
Kate secretly went to the travel agency and found out that her husband had indeed come here for consultation.
Kate became suspicious and suspicious that her husband used Kate's perfume. Asked if he would like to attend the 45th anniversary banquet, the husband said yes.
Here, the two people are in a background of different colors, forming a confrontation space.
Kate struggled to adjust and told her husband that we were starting over.
At the anniversary, the husband burst into tears, and the guests wished the couple who were so close to each other.
They dance to music that Kate has chosen herself.
Looking at her intoxicated husband, Kate suddenly realized that her husband was so selfishly intoxicated in the lies he weaved that she angrily shook off her husband's hand and wept alone.
The story ends abruptly here.
Charlotte Rampling's performance is excellent at the bone level, and the film won the Best Actor and Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival.
In the 2016 Oscar nominations just announced last night, Rampling nominated the best actress, it seems that there is a drama.
Rampling was also a goddess when he was young, and this film is very elegant in old age.
Director Andrew Hagrid himself is gay, and both "Weekend Time" and "Looking" are gay themes. Why would he make a movie about an elderly couple?
I wanted to shoot 45th Anniversary as an extension of his exploration of some of the similarities that exist in a partnership, whether that partner is a couple or gay.
The theme is this: The party with the secret always holds the privilege, whether they realize it or not. The party who seeks the secret will always be hurt in the pursuit. The party looking for it doesn't know how cruel the secret is, let alone when it will break out. The other party always seems to care more about the secret than himself, so he will always leave because of it at a certain moment. Anxiety about being "abandoned" lingers in these seekers, and this departure, made easier in gay couples because of the flutter of relationships, is worse.
"Weekend Time" is about a weekend encounter. Glenn and Russell met at a bar and spent the night. Glenn is going to study in America, and Russell has to go to a friend's daughter's birthday party. But at the party, Russell couldn't stop thinking about Glenn. He decided to go to the United States to find him and continue to pursue love.
Glenn is a man with secrets, he has an unknown past behind him, and his views on love are radical and natural. Russell carefully concealed himself in the crowd and only dared to reveal it secretly, so he was destined to be anxious.
"Looking" is a love story of a group of gays in San Francisco. The protagonist Patrick goes around and ends up with his boss Kevin, but the secrets of Kevin's past will eventually lie in their relationship (there is news in the show). Said to make a big movie, give the protagonists an end).
In the relationship between husband and wife, even if there is a strengthening of marriage, it makes the relationship more like a hypocritical lie, which is ridiculous in the blessing of everyone. 45 years of marriage crumbling with a single secret, we're all acting and just being happy.
Kate suddenly felt unworthy of her, and she dared not let everyone see. She tried to capture the 45th anniversary celebration because it showed her unique value to Jeff. But what she couldn't deceive herself was that the 45-year relationship still couldn't replace Jeff's good memories of his ex-girlfriend. This memory came to an abrupt end, and instead became indelible. It was the white moonlight and cinnabar mole in Jeff's heart.
He is still middle-aged to explore old marriage issues, but he will still carry his own inertia. He believes that the most important thing in a relationship is the hidden secret of the other party. This secret is a hidden mine that will explode one day. Looking for traces of it, they are always one step behind, unable to replace that secret shape.
Older couples who have experienced strong winds and rains, the stories of their youth are mostly gone, and they will be more indifferent and relieved in the face of their partner's past. Hagrid is still a little more youthful, and young talents care more about each other's past. The problem with elderly couples is that as their bodies age, they will find themselves less and less able to live in peace with life, and are forced to give up their dignity and compromise with life. On this point, the ruthless Haneke (he is also an old man) ruthlessly writes a parable in Love.
Anne and George are in their 80s and both are retired music teachers. One day, Anne suffered a sudden stroke. George endured the pain of losing his lover, ending Anne's meaningless and dignified life and fulfilling her last wish. He also saw the humiliation of his own old age in her.
Overall, the film is soothing and calm, with a mild plot that's characteristic of Hagrid's soft light. Because of a secret, 45 years of marriage instantly became a lie. The undertones of Hagrid's films are light, and what lingers is the unobtainable disappointment. It can never be replaced, your mysterious past.
View more about 45 Years reviews
