45 Years

Kate Mercer (Charlotte Rampling) has been married to Geoff (Tom Courtenay) for almost 45 years and their wedding anniversary is looming. Plans are well advanced for a party to celebrate when Geoff gets a letter written which reveals that the body of his pregnant former girlfriend, Katja, who fell into a glacier in the Swiss mountains in the early 1960s, has been discovered, perfectly preserved in the ice. 

Now, this to me would have triggered an immediate trip to Switzerland to pay my final respects to my ex with hopefully my partner alongside me for support but this isn’t how it plays out.

Geoff hasn’t told his wife about Katja, ever. Whoops. Not that you’d think that would matter much as the relationship was done and dusted, albeit in tragic circumstances, before he even met Kate.

However Geoff retreats into himself, reflecting back on things and contemplating how his life might turned out had she not died. It’s as if he hasn’t thought of the girl in the last 45 years, which I’m sure wouldn’t have been the case.

Kate meanwhile is green eyed with jealousy and mistrust at this girl who has accidentally discovered eternal youth. Yet Katja is dead, it's a good job he didn't get a letter about an ex who was still alive.

She goes to the lengths of digging Geoff's old photos of the fateful trip to Switzerland out in the loft and viewing them on the slide projector. The fact that these are so easily accessible sort of hints there was no big secret here but for some reason she has never bothered to look before.

The similarity of their names and the fact that the couple don't really have any photographs of themselves hints at a deeper conspiracy on Geoff's part but doesn't really convince. Isn't Kate capable of taking her own photos? Then again, probably not. 

It’s also a bit one-sided, there is no mention of any former life or lovers that Kate may have enjoyed pre-Geoff. Then again, she probably didn’t.

All this happens amidst their perfect but mundane life on the edge of the Norfolk Broads. e.g shopping trips are interspersed with Geoff's failing efforts to fix the lavatory.

I am sure had this happened to me, once I'd got over the grief, it's the sort of thing I'd have used as a chat up line. Guess what happened to my last girlfriend, she ended up in a crevasse in the Alps ha ha. I'd still be single obviously. Then I’m a great believer in fate, not matter how tragic.

45 Years is a simple slow-burning and deliberately enigmatic film which is I guess supposed to be its strength but it is also its failing. Technically this is a good, well-acted film, just not a very exciting one.

 

Gemma Bovery

'Gemma Bovery' is about a former publisher turned baker called Martin Joubert (Fabrice Luchini) who now lives in the Normandy village where his favourite novel, Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary', was set. When an English couple move into a crumbling cottage in the village and he is forced into early pleasantries when his dog runs into their garden to introduce itself to their pouch (as they do) he finds out to his astonishment that their surname is Bovery. This quickly brings to mind the aforementioned 19th century novel about the amorous adventures of a doctor's wife.

The ex-pat couple are Gemma (Gemma Arterton) and her crushingly dull husband Charlie (Jason Flemyng). As the couple accustom themselves to village life and learn French very well, Martin becomes obsessed with the beautiful but bored Gemma. Hardly surprising really when she spends most of the first half of the film orgasmically sniffing bread in his bakery.

The film itself is based on a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds who also produced Tamara Drewe which you may recall also starred Gemma Arteton and reworked another piece of famous literature in ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’.

Martin soon starts to believe that her life is mirroring that of the fictional Bovary particularly when he catches Gemma flirting with Hervé (Niels Schneider), a young student who should be revising for his law degree but (understandably) would rather spends time working on his English. He is frequently seen naked helping Gemma relive her boredom although she manages to remain clothed the whole time (must be a contract thing).

Martin assumes this will all end badly for Gemma just as the book does and he tries to intervene in matters but his help only further complicates her love life as does the arrival of her ex Patrick (Mel Raido).

It is a pleasantly mixed language (English/French) affair with about 80% in French and subtitled. Only occasionally does it descend into cheesy chick flick territory such as when Gemma gets stung by a bee and asks her favourite baker to open her shirt and suck the poison out.

The ending is really quite clever and shot from several angles/points of view, the rest of the film less so but pleasant enough.

Amy

‘Amy’ is a documentary about Amy Winehouse made by Asif Kapadia, the man who also made one about Ayrton Senna. To do so, he had the full cooperation of the Winehouse family and this, if nothing else, results in an amazing collection of archive footage. These clips, many clearly made only for personal viewing, are extremely revealing and at times uncomfortable to watch. Added to the footage are the recollections of many of the people who shaped her life and career.

Her father has openly disowned the film, after he saw the final cut, saying it wasn’t a good portrayal of his daughter. I would disagree totally, if anything it paints Amy Winehouse in too good a light.

It’s everyone else who gets butchered, her father included. For being a rotten influence on her from the start. From his infidelity during her youth to his conversion to dotting dad when she gains success and wealth. I can see why he didn’t like it.

Winehouse is no saint of course but it seems that hardly anybody is prepared to guide her away from bad influences. Those that try fail when they come up against the major influence that is Blake Fieldler, the inexplicable love of her life. It is his relationship with the insecure Winehouse which seems to be the deadly tipping point in this story.

This is a man who leaves his current girlfriend to be with Winehouse, then leaves Winehouse to go back to her. Then he switches women again when Winehouse gains success and wealth. Are you spotting a pattern here?

Unlike her father, this particular hanger-on led her into hard drugs. Then there’s the press, of course, who relentlessly pursued her.

The contrast between the Amy of the early years up to the time of her début album ‘Frank’ in 2003 and what comes afterwards, when she hit the big time with ‘Back to Black’ in 2006, is very pronounced. At that time, even I was enchanted by the attractive young talent but I quickly lost interest as her appearance (and life) became more bizarre and she disappeared under the weight of her tattoos. 

This film however restores my original admiration. It shows how incredibly talented she was and how she made music on her own terms but what comes over most is how clever and personal her songs were. Many of her songs were of a highly personal nature with lyrics sourced from her own, often unpleasant, experiences.

Watching the film is, at times, a macabre experience. The footage of her final, ill advised, concert in Serbia in 2011 is not easy to watch. Winehouse is too drunk to be on stage let alone to sing. When she died just a month later of alcohol poisoning, aged just 27, it had a sad certain inevitability about it.

 

Her dreadful but popular cover of The Zutons’ ‘Valerie’, unmentioned in the film itself, accompanies the end credits. Sadly this, rather than her own stunning compositions, is what she will be remember for by many.

 

Whether this film tells the real truth or not it has lifted Amy Winehouse up several levels in my eyes, which can be no bad thing.

Well recommended.