A police unit breaks into a Paris apartment and discover the body of an elderly woman (Emmanuelle Riva). Her husband (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is nowhere to be found. We then jump back in time to one of their last outings together before Anne becomes incapacitated as a result of an illness.
What we witness is the cost of love – not the romance of cinema, but the day-to- day activity of caring for another person, no matter the physical or emotional cost.
Michael Haneke’s most sensitive film refuses to pull any punches in his depiction of the ageing process, but avoids sensation in favour of empathy. This is deeply humane, profoundly moving cinema.