45 Years.

Debuting at the 65^th Berlin International Film Festival where it won Charlotte Rampling the Silver Bear for Best Actress and Tom Courtenay a Silver Bear for Best Actor 45 Years (2015) is directed and written by Andrew Haigh based on a short story In Another Country by David Constantine. It tells how something as insignificant as a visit from the postman can alter the perception of happiness between a retired couple that are about to celebrate 45 years of marriage.

Geoff sets out to translate his letter.

A letter arrives in German from the Swiss authorities revealing that the body of Geoff Mercer’s (Courtenay) first love Katya, who plunged to her death on a mountain in 1962 whilst out walking with him, has been found in a snowmelt due to climate change. This starts a serious of emotional forebodings in his wife Kate (Rampling) that threaten to fracture their rather tenuous relationship.

 

Does the Norfolk countryside reflect 45 years of marriage? 

A powerfully devastating drama about how life in a person’s dotage, and one that has relied on a good relationship, even if it’s not quite what it seems, can change, especially when you reach a point in life where it probable better not to think to deeply into that relationship in fear of blemishing 45 years of marriage.

 

The celebration of a long and 'happy' marriage. 

This cracking drama is headed up by very powerful performances from two veterans whose careers go back for over fifty years both of whom are expert at conveying their feelings through looks rather than words. The Director of Photography Loi Crawley, also responsible for the cinematography on Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013), captures the flat and boring Norfolk countryside that probably reflects the true relationship between our two retirees. This is the type of movie that is typically British although it does at times bring to mind the work of filmmaker Francois Ozon and certainly is a film not to be missed by those of you that enjoy a subtle underplayed narrative. 

Our two leads receiving their well deserved Silver Bears in Berlin.