45 Years

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Andrew Haigh/Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James and Dolly Wells

An elderly British couple, living contentedly and happily in their rural home, are suddenly forced to confront a past that not only threatens their idyllic bliss, but their marriage as well. The husband; Geoff Mercer (Tom Courtenay) sits at their breakfast table, having just read a letter that has left him distraught. His wife; Kate Mercer, having just walked in from an invigorating stroll, finds her husband troubled. Responding to his wife's puzzlement, he says he has just been informed by the Swiss authorities that the body of his former girlfriend; a woman Geoff was involved with before his marriage to Kate, was found in the Swiss Alps; perfectly preserved in ice. Her death; the result of a hiking accident in 1965; occurred five years prior to his marriage to Kate.

Though Geoff downplays his relationship to the woman, we can see from Kate's reaction to the news that his former girlfriend is a source of anxiety and jealousy. How the news of Geoff's former girlfriend affects the Mercer's marriage is the subject of director Andrew Haigh's 45 Years, which is based on a short story by author David Constantine.

The story unfolds at a deliberate pace as Kate's suspicions of the girlfriend's significance in Geoff's life prompts closer scrutiny. Though the discovery of his ex-girlfriend's body causes him anxiety, his attempts to allay Kate's fears come to naught. The implications of the letter prompts many questions; the most pertinent being: was the girlfriend's death the only obstacle to a more serious relationship? Would Geoff have eventually broken off his relationship, irrespective of the fatal accident, or would he have married the woman? Has Kate and Geoff's time together; a mostly happy 45 years; been rendered meaningless by her suspicions about the other woman? Are any or all of Kate's grave concerns groundless? The questions themselves become a razor-sharp blades, whose painful cuts leave gaping, marital wounds.

Though the Mercer's marriage is of paramount concern, the film's point-of-view belongs to Kate. Her suspicions gain some legitimacy when she discovers photos in the attic that belie her husband's claims of innocence. Furtive investigations only strain the marriage further. It is interesting to note that the crisis occurs during plans for the couple's forthcoming anniversary party.

As doubt creeps into Kate's thought, becoming all-consuming, the anniversary party edges ever nearer. How will the party play out? Anytime a party or anniversary serves as a climactic moment in a film, we can expect a speech or incident at said event to assume narrative significance.

I anticipated Geoff's obligatory visit to the body at the beginning of the film but I'm glad that never happened. The very idea of an unseen, frozen body causing marital upheaval works extremely well as a metaphor and a plot device.

The film's time motif is an appropriate symbol. The past and present; particularly the former, weigh heavily on the couple; what might have been becomes almost unendurable speculation.

The final scene, which follows Geoff's anniversary speech, is followed by a turn on the dance floor, where Kate's reaction to her husband's rapturous cheer leaves little doubt to her state of mind.

And as much as the story belongs to Kate, the film is Charlotte Rampling's. So much of her performance plays out in her face; we see her inner turmoil and pain; her eyes registering so much anguish. She is quite marvelous (as one would expect of an actress of Rampling's caliber) but so is Tom Courtenay; who shows us that Geoff's subtle, inconsistent behavior betrays a more complicated personality.

The film's soundtrack is made up of the songs the couple have selected for their anniversary celebration and like the girlfriend who is locked in ice, the music is riveted to a particular period of the past. Not one contemporary song is heard in the celebration or the soundtrack. And if not for the current car models seen in the movie, one might feel the couple is suspended in an indeterminate time in the past; computers, cellphones and tablets are nowhere to be seen.

45 Years will be released next month. It is sure to get buried in the holiday, cinematic shock-wave, which is too bad. It is a film that isn't flashy or sensational, but quiet and darkly introspective.

The film is really about one character and her demon-haunted past. Andrew Haigh tells a story that is both touching and in a way; frightening. The possibility that one's seemingly happy life is no more than an illusion is explored with poignance and depth. That it denies us a happy denouement is a reflection of its grim view of the Mercer marriage and the unbearable truths that lie therein.