Title: 45 Years
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Andrew Haigh
Starring: Charlotta Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

What It Is: Married for 44 going on 45 years couple Kate (Rampling)  and Geoff (Courtenay) Mercer are about to get hit with a brick of information. A woman who Geoff was friends with prior to marrying Kate has been found, well her body anyway. You see on a hiking excursion the presumed dead body of his former “friend” has been impeccably preserved due to it’s frozen resting place. This news shocks Geoff to his core and also strikes Kate in a way she didn’t expect.

What We Think: Charlotte Rampling got an Oscar nomination for this piece and before seeing it I thought to myself it could not have been that good. I was happily wrong. There’s just a way she plays this thing that is so nuanced and wonderful. She has an underlying layer to her that is both understandable and complex. Her husband emotes above what you’d expect from a man who lost this woman nearly 50 years ago. Every moment you feel like an intimate fly on a wall. Like you’re not just watching characters playing parts but instead a real couple going through a real problem. It is simply gorgeous filmmaking done tightly and with a keen eye for emotional details.

Our Grade: A-, There’s so much well done here. It’s all placed together very intimately. I love smaller films like this, but one that gives us an actual three-act structure. Often indie films forget to do this instead choosing to go ambiguous with their ending. I’m going to recommend you all check this one out as it truly is a great little piece of cinema. In the meantime check out all of our other reviews featuring Best Actress nominees including Room, Brooklyn, Carol, and Joy along with this absolute gem!