Veteran actors Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay star in this quintessentially British film about an aging couple approaching their 45th anniversary.
45 Years (Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay) – Kate and Geoff Mercer have been happily, comfortably married for 45 years. As the party for their anniversary approaches, Geoff is stunned when he receives a letter telling him that the body of his first love has been found intact encased in ice inside the glacier in Switzerland in which she fell to her death 50 years before. Kate knew little to nothing of the woman but she finds herself jealous of this woman who she never met but with whom her husband seems obsessed.
Charlotte Rampling, who captivated American audiences with her stunning portrayal of Paul Newman’s conspiring love interest in The Verdict 33 years ago, plays Kate with subtlety and marvelous facial emotion. Tom Courtenay, a mainstay of British films since Dr. Zhivago, portrays Geoff, the older and more feeble of the two. He is struggling mightily with the memories of Katya, whose death while hiking he has suppressed.
The film chronicles the week from the revelation through the anniversary party. Not much happens … as seems so true of British films … but the changes in both characters are evident. Kate and Geoff live totally intertwined lives, so deeply dependent that a solo trip into town or a walk seems the only solitary time either gets. The couple never had children but they have plenty of friends. But now Geoff isn’t looking forward to a reunion of his former co-workers, something he had talked about for weeks before. Kate seems content with walking the dog and taking walks through the cloudy countryside.
Can a 45 years long relationship be poisoned so suddenly? Will everything unwind before the party or will the couple just repress the new revelation and move on into their winter years?
Rampling received Oscar and SAG nominations for this performance, which is at once understated but riveting. Courtenay, most recently featured in the wonderful Quartet, was even better but did not earn an Oscar nod as he did for Dr. Zhivago and The Dresser.
To love this movie requires the viewer to settle in and accept both the slow pacing and the almost ridiculous premise. I can’t say that I ever got there. But it is well worth seeing the film if you have the chance.