Quiet dramas with older characters dealing with age or coming to terms with events in their pasts often catch Academy Award attention, and such is the case with 45 Years, for which Charlotte Rampling has been nominated as Best Actress. Rampling has been around since the 1960s, from Georgy Girl and The Damned to The Night Porter and The Verdict. She last caught my eye in Swimming Pool, and that was a dozen years ago. Rampling has always been a fearless actress who downplays her beauty, and it is great that she has found a role that has garnered her so much attention.
45 Years describes the length of a marriage between Jeff (Tom Courtenay) and Kate Mercer (Rampling). The film, adapted and directed by Andrew Haigh, focuses primarily on Kate as their 45th wedding anniversary approaches, as does news from Jeff’s past which distracts him and calls everything into question for her.
It is this difference, the basic one between men and women, which forges the drama — and yet I didn’t care for the manner in which Haigh portrayed it. His camera is nearly always focused on Kate, while Jeff is in soft focus or cut out of the frame altogether. Even though the news is from his past, this is all about Kate’s reaction — to it, and her husband’s reaction — it’s almost as if his own feelings don’t matter. I’m all for telling good stories about women, or seeing things from their perspective, but this seems not just unfair but unbalanced.
In the end, she reacts much more forcefully than he, which to me spotlights the differences between gender. That’s fine, but Kate should understand that Jeff will be distracted for a time but then get over it. He already begins to by the climactic final scene. But not Kate; what has happened will haunt for a long, long time, and she may never be able to live with Jeff in the same way again. I guess what bothers me is that Jeff’s reaction is almost unimportant to the story; only Kate’s counts. I don’t like it and I don’t buy it.
Haigh’s film is as quiet as a lazy Sunday afternoon, and, for some viewers, will be about as compelling. For those who appreciate well-crafted characters and acting, it is more rewarding. I was not bored, but I wish it had not been so one-sided. ☆ ☆ 1/2. 29 January 2016.