Mighty Movie Podcast: Michael Haneke on <em>Amour</em>

is not the most gripping, devastating, insightful film you'll see this year. It may be the most gripping, devastating, insightful film you'll see.
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FILE - This undated file film image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Jean-Louis Trintignant in a scene from the Austrian film, "Amour." The film was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign film on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. The 70th annual Golden Globe Awards will be held on Jan. 13. (AP Photo/Sony Pictures Classics, File)
FILE - This undated file film image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Jean-Louis Trintignant in a scene from the Austrian film, "Amour." The film was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign film on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. The 70th annual Golden Globe Awards will be held on Jan. 13. (AP Photo/Sony Pictures Classics, File)

2012-12-19-Amour_5_410.jpgAmour is not the most gripping, devastating, insightful film you'll see this year. It may be the most gripping, devastating, insightful film you'll see ever. The tale of an elderly couple descending into isolation and desperation as the husband (Jean-Louis Trintignant) tends to a wife (Emmanuelle Riva) succumbing slowly to the damages of a stroke, the film demonstrates not only the expected, unsparing intensity of director Michael Haneke (Caché, The White Ribbon), but also his skillful empathy in portraying humans coping with impossible, but all-too-common, circumstances, as well as his knack for catching audiences unawares with a radical example of what true love actually is. The film's an unforgettable experience; the best I've seen this year.

This episode features a press roundtable with Haneke recorded during the New York Film Festival, as the director discusses the movie and gives us some insight into his approach to filmmaking.

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