45 Years is a 2015 British romantic drama film written and directed by Andrew Haigh. It is based on the short story "In Another Country" by David Constantine.
45 Years premiered in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival, where Charlotte Rampling won the Silver Bear for Best Actress and Tom Courtenay for Best Actor. It was released in the United Kingdom on 28 August 2015 and went on to gross $14.2 million worldwide. At the 88th Academy Awards, Rampling received a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Plot summary Five years after retirees Kate and Geoff Mercer had to cancel their 40th wedding anniversary because of Geoff's heart bypass surgery, the comfortably-off, childless Norfolk couple are preparing to celebrate their 45th anniversary with dozens of friends at the Assembly House in Norwich. Their morning is somewhat disturbed when Geoff opens a letter telling him that the body of Katya, his German lover in the early 1960s before meeting Kate, has become visible in a melting glacier where she fell into a crevasse on their hike in Switzerland over five decades before.
Kate has been told about Katya previously by Geoff and seems initially unconcerned by his controlled disquiet. Geoff tells Kate that he and Katya had pretended to be married in order to be able to share a room in the more puritanical early 1960s. Because of this, the Swiss authorities consider him to be Katya's next of kin.
As the days pass and preparations for the party continue, Geoff continues to be moody and starts smoking again. One night, Geoff climbs into the attic to look at his memorabilia of Katya and only reluctantly shows a picture of her to an angrily insistent Kate. Kate notices that Katya looks like her when she was young, with similar dark hair.
While Geoff is out at a reunion luncheon at his former workplace, Kate climbs the ladder to the attic. She finds Geoff's scrapbook filled with memorabilia from his time with Katya, including pressed violets from their last hike. She finds a carousel slide projector, loaded with images of Switzerland and Katya, next to a makeshift screen to view them. Kate is shocked to see slides showing that Katya was pregnant at the time of her death.
Kate also takes up smoking again and, upon learning of his visit to the local travel agency to inquire about trips to Switzerland, confronts Geoff about his recent behavior. Though she does not reveal what she saw in the attic, she does say that she now feels as though many of their decisions as a couple were, without her awareness, influenced by Geoff's experiences with Katya. Geoff promises their marriage will "start again", which he marks the next morning by serving Kate tea in bed and making her breakfast. They attend their anniversary party in the historic Grand Hall, and Geoff delivers a tearful speech in which he professes his love for Kate.
The first dance is announced, accompanied by the same first song from Kate and Geoff's wedding, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" by The Platters. While they slow dance, Geoff becomes silly and playful, but Kate becomes increasingly awkward and rigid. As the song ends and Geoff raises their hands together in the air to cheers from the guests, Kate yanks her arm down. Geoff, apparently oblivious, dances away, leaving Kate standing alone amid the mass of people on the dance floor.
Cast
Production Filming took place over 6 weeks, concluding in May 2014.
Reception Critical response On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 212 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 8.6/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "45 Years offers richly thought-provoking rewards for fans of adult cinema – and a mesmerizing acting showcase for leads Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 94 out of 100 based on reviews from 36 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
In a review in The Observer, Mark Kermode described the film as a "subtle examination of the persistence of the past and the fragile (in)stability of the present", arguing that the lead performances "turn an apparently everyday story of a marriage in quiet crisis into something rather extraordinary." He concluded by observing that, "Like the final shot of The Long Good Friday, which lingers upon Bob Hoskins's face as he revisits the events that brought him to this sorry pass, 45 Years shows us the past materialising in the expressions of those trapped in the present, staring into an uncertain future."
Accolades Award / Film FestivalCategoryRecipients and nomineesResultAcademy AwardsBest ActressCharlotte Rampling Berlin International Film FestivalBest Actor Tom Courtenay Best ActressCharlotte Rampling Golden BearAndrew Haigh British Academy Film AwardsOutstanding British FilmAndrew Haigh, Tristan Goligher British Independent Film AwardsBest British Independent Film 45 Years Best DirectorAndrew Haigh Best ActressCharlotte Rampling Best ActorTom Courtenay Best ScreenplayAndrew Haigh Producer of the YearTristan Goligher Boston Society of Film CriticsBest ActressCharlotte Rampling Chicago Film Critics AssociationBest ActressCharlotte Rampling Critics' Choice AwardsBest ActressCharlotte Rampling Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics AssociationBest ActressCharlotte Rampling David di DonatelloBest European Film45 Years Dorian AwardsPerformance Of The Year — ActressCharlotte Rampling Dublin Film Critics' CircleBest ActorTom Courtenay Edinburgh International Film Festival Best Performance in a British Feature FilmCharlotte Rampling Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature FilmAndrew Haigh Empire AwardsBest British Film45 Years European Film AwardsBest European ActorTom Courtenay Best European ActressCharlotte Rampling Best European ScreenwriterAndrew Haigh Evening Standard British Film AwardsBest Film45 Years Best ActorTom Courtenay Best ActressCharlotte Rampling Editor's Award45 Years Florida Film Critics CircleBest ActressCharlotte Rampling Indiewire Critics PollBest Lead ActressCharlotte Rampling Best Lead ActorTom Courtenay Irish Film & Television AwardsBest International ActressCharlotte Rampling London Film Critics' CircleFilm of the Year45 Years British / Irish Film of the Year45 Years Director of the YearAndrew Haigh Actress of the YearCharlotte Rampling Actor of the YearTom Courtenay British / Irish Actress of the YearCharlotte Rampling Los Angeles Film Critics AssociationBest ActressCharlotte Rampling National Board of Review Top Ten Independent Films45 Years National Society of Film CriticsBest ActressCharlotte Rampling New York Film Critics OnlineTop 10 Films45 Years Online Film Critics SocietyBest ActressCharlotte Rampling San Diego Film Critics SocietyBest ActressCharlotte Rampling San Francisco Film Critics CircleBest ActressCharlotte Rampling Best Adapted ScreenplayAndrew Haigh Valladolid Film FestivalBest ActressCharlotte Rampling
References
External links
45 Years: Fissures an essay by Ella Taylor at the Criterion Collection See also: The Crystal Trench, a 1959 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.