45 Years (English, 2015)

Charlotte Rampling as Kate Mercer, is a treat to watch on screen. Having to go through what she does in a span of one week and keep her head high all along is something that makes her dazzle amidst the otherwise dull green, blue and white ambience. Her face is like a canvas showing a varied palette of emotions perfectly.

Tom Courtenay, on the other hand, is like a rabbit who keeps falling into a hole of dismay and disappointment quite frequently. It is quite gutsy of him to choose this part which has less screen space & yet he delivers what his character needs brilliantly. Watching their moments together as a pair is a spectacle indeed.

Andrew Haigh has adapted something from paper to screen skillfully. The clincher is neither the usage of few actors nor the usage of confined spaces (read house, car, boat) but how he has created a key part of “Katya” whom none of the audience sees or knows except from the dialogues exchanged.

The dialogues, though few in number, have been placed to keep the momentum going and also serve as a logical explanation to things that are unexplained. The movie begins with a conversation of Kate with a delivery man who recently has had twins, it is only later that you realize that this dialogue is a trigger to what comes after & is astounding how a simple conversation creates the darkest of memories.

The ability to hear the chimes in wind, the dogs bark, the cars whiz, the water splashing on the boat and yet not finding them disturbing or annoying is a great achievement in itself. The understanding of how sound works has been put to great use. The best example would be how the external sound is muffled when the car door closes.

There are quite a number of subtexts in the movie, which sort of adds layers to an otherwise simple story. The wind gushing through dry bushes as Kate looks on portrays her inner turmoil & she reaching out to the attic door conveys her reaching out to someone who has locked oneself up. These subtexts are not that easy to spot and when spotted leave the majority of spectators in a limbo until the story ends.