I'm reminded of the line from Bergman's Face to Face where Liv Ullmann watches her grandmother sitting by her grandfather's deathbed and laments, "For a brief moment, I realized that love embraces everything. Even death." That more probing, albeit obvious work tackling similar subject matter is far more moving and fascinating than the overly restrained Amour. That's not to say this doesn't have its own share of obvious imagery or commentary, with one particularly dopey dream sequence. Nevertheless, this is certain to resonate with anyone familiar with the hardships of elder care. Few films have shown the frustrating, debilitating nature of aging so artfully. Haneke knows very well what he's doing here, but this seems like a minor work for a man who's capable of so much more than a slow, sorrowful character study. Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva are underwhelming in their roles.
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