Director Michael Haneke has never been a director to particularly invite an audience in with his films, even though works such as “Funny Games” and “Cache” reward the invested viewer, but recently it seems Haneke has been lifted to a status that has exuberantly credited his skills behind the camera. Along with winning acclaim in 2009 with “The White Ribbon” — earning the Palme d'Or at Cannes as well as a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film — he now looks to poised to pull off a similar coup with his latest Palme d'Or-winning film, “Amour.”
The Austrian trade organization, FAMA, has revealed its selection of Haneke's French-language “Amour” to be their entry for the 2013 Foreign Language Film Oscar, marking a change of pace from “The White Ribbon,” when Germany angered Austria by representing the film instead of them. However, with “Amour” anchored by two strong central performances in French actors Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, and a narrative involving a husband's attempts to make his wife's post-stroke days as comfortable as possible, they've hardly got a light-weight contender to throw their support behind.
Isabelle Huppert also shows up in a supporting role, and in our Cannes review we remarked the film to be “powerful, unflinching stuff with Haneke following the story with his trademark intensity right until the end.” And if the excruciating images of a couple's final days that leave you sobbing on the drive home aren’t enough, details of composer Alexandre Tharaud's score – which features a number of Schubert and Beethoven pieces — have also been released, so you can take the sentiment to work with you the next day.
The score hits shelves September 21st, and “Amour” will be released through Sony Pictures Classics in an awards slot of December 16th. [THR/FMR]
"Amour" Soundtrack Tracklisting
1. Impromptu, Op. 90 D899, No. 3 En Sol Bémol Majeur – Franz Schubert
2. Impromptu, Op. 90 D899, No. 1 En Ut Mineur – Franz Schubert
3. Bagatelle, Op. 126, No. 2 En Sol Mineur
4. Ich Ruf Zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ Bwv639 – Johann Sebastian Bach/ Ferruccio Busoni
5. Moment Musical, Op. 94 D780, No. 3 En Fa Mineur – Franz Schubert
6. Bagatelle, Op. 33, No. 4 En La Majeur – Ludwig van Beethoven
7. Bagatelle, Op. 33, No. 2 En Ut Majeur – Ludwig van Beethoven
8. Extrait No. 1
9. Extrait No. 2
Love Cache and The White Ribbon, but man "Funny Games" was a pontificating stinker both times around.