The Shot Lingers in Michael Haneke's Amour
"It's beautiful."
"What?"
"Life. So long."
Author's note: the following analysis contains spoilers. You have been warned!
The story of Amour is quite simple: it follows the sorrowful tale of a retired, elderly couple living peacefully by themselves. Slowly and tragically, Anne’s (the wife to Georges) health begins to dwindle, with her becoming in more and more of a vegetative state as the film progresses.
One extremely fascinating technique of Amour is (as this article’s title suggests) the painstakingly long, drawn-out shots of every single scene. It is in no doubt intentional: Mr. Haneke deliberately forces you to watch every heartbreaking moment of the end of these lives, every stumble and eerie moans of help included.
Near the beginning of the film, Anne secures a promise from Georges: he will never put her into a hospital, ensuring she will die in his arms alone. Throughout the story, he manages to keep his sacred vow, even going so far as to fire a particularly vile nurse, only wanting the best for his wife’s final days.
As experienced in the very first scene, we know exactly how the picture will end: firefighters ramming the door down, slicing the tape off of the couple’s room entrance, and finding Anne dead, a corpse adorned with flowers. From there, we go back to experience every single event in their lives, one of the final actions being a sudden and abrupt smothering of Georges’ wife.
It was not out of malice, harm, or any sort of evil intentions.
Cries of “Mommy,” “Hurts,” and “Help,” were all Anne could muster, paralyzed down her entire right side. She could no longer speak, no longer express, and Georges realized this… he had known from the beginning.
This was a mercy killing of the most heartbreaking degree.
The penultimate segment of Amour shows a now-destroyed Georges (who at this point sleeps in a room adjacent to the living area) awakening to his wife, Anne, washing some plates in the kitchen. She ushers him to get a coat on, and leads him to the front door. They both exit, shutting the door behind them.
In a continuation of the very first scene, their daughter, Eva, walks through the house, and sits down in the study; cue credits.
You see, to me, Georges does not live past what we see of him in that second-to-last point; I believe that his “awakening” was a simple release after death, and the metaphorical spirit of Anne leads him out of the house, putting his moral worries to rest.
This is a story of love.
This is the story of Amour.