45 Years

45 Years (2015)

Directed by Andrew Haigh

Screenplay by Andrew Haigh

Based on the short story, "In Another Country" by David Constantine

Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James, Dolly Wells, and David Sibley

I heard news that Andrew Haigh was making a new movie with Andrew Scott and Jaime Bell. I loved his first film, Weekend, and his short lived HBO series, Looking. I didn't know that this movie was directed by him. I love Charlotte Rampling, but the movie...

The audience is looking at a week in the lives of Geoffrey and Kate (Courtenay, Rampling) who are making preparations to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. Everything seems to be fine. When a letter come in the mail, secrets are exposed and skeletons come tumbling out of the closet.

Andrew Haigh is known for this subtle nuances to his works. Cool. Here, I expected a lot than what was given on the screen. There were times when I was checking to see how much of the movie was left. I was bored. It felt one note. What something going to happen? I was running through scenarios in my mind that were more engaging than this.

There were three scenes that I loved in the movie. They all involved Rampling. Did she deserve her Best Actress nomination? Absolutely. She carried this movie. She was the only reason that I stayed until the end. Thank Goddess for Charlotte Rampling.

Rating: 6/10

LAMBs in The Director's Chair Series Spotlight (Lars von Trier): Melancholia

Melancholia (2011)

Written and directed by Lars von Trier

Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Cameron Spurr, Brady Corbet, Alexander Skarsgård,  Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier and Kiefer Sutherland

Seeing as controversial Danish directors is this month's LAMBs Director Chair, I wanted to see a couple of the movies that he has done. I have only seen Antichrist. I heard that his movies have a female protagonist that go through a lot of shit and awful things happened to them. This movie follows the same premise to meager results.

The movie slightly diverts for the von Trier formula by having two female protagonists in crisis. It is broken up in two equal parts. The first part deals with Justine (Dunst), a woman who recently married Michael (Alexander Skarsgård) and is going into her wedding reception. During the course of the evening, she slowly unravels and her behavior becomes erratic. The second part of the story deals with Justine's sister, Claire (Gainsbourg) and her husband, John (Sutherland). She becomes anxious that a planet that was hidden behind the sun, Melancholia would crash into the Earth.

This movie seems like it has every auteur formula down with the slow motion actions, weird imagery, the swelling orchestral music. It was same as his last film. This went on for eight minutes. I mean, come on. Get on with it already. I didn't get the point of the movie. I understand that von Trier's shtick is to torture his female characters. I got the message with Antichrist, but not this movie. I enjoyed the second part of the movie because it dealt with the psychosis of Claire and impending doom. I was left with a lot of questions than answers. I don't want it spelled out to me, but make a clear point about what you have to say.

My Rating