Brilliant ‘45 Years’ portrays damage done by secrets

  • By Robert Horton Herald movie critic
  • Wednesday, January 27, 2016 2:57pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

It might be grounded in kitchen-sink reality in many ways — here is a small English town, here are its unglamorous citizens, here are the everyday habits of two people who have been married a long time.

But my favorite film of 2015 has an undercurrent of the fairy tale about it, as though a touch of dark magic were animating the crisis at the movie’s heart.

This is Andrew Haigh’s “45 Years” — now you know how long the couple has been married — and maybe it’s more ghost story than fairy tale. A mysterious letter arrives one day in the Mercer household. Kate (Charlotte Rampling) has just returned from a morning walk and Geoff (Tom Courtenay) is having tea.

We might be struck by the way the composition of the two of them at the kitchen table is visually imbalanced, but maybe the camera has adjusted to include the clock behind them as the third character in the shot, ticking loudly like a bomb about to go off.

The letter says that the body of Geoff’s former girlfriend — her name was Katya, which is a little close to home — has been found in an Alpine glacier, a half-century after she fell to her death while she and Geoff were hiking across Europe.

Kate had heard about Katya before, all those years ago, but apparently the subject hasn’t come up since. The letter hits Geoff hard, and of course it would. But in the week that leads up to the couple’s wedding anniversary party, Kate comes to realize that Katya’s ghost may have been haunting the marriage from the beginning.

Perhaps Kate has never realized this before, perhaps she has willfully chosen to ignore it. The fact that we’re not sure is one of the quiet triumphs of Haigh’s film. He focuses on Kate’s week, as she soldiers on with her errands while it dawns on her that Geoff may have always held on to “my Katya,” as he unthinkingly blurts out when first reading the letter. That body in the ice, such a folkloric image to contrast with this 21st-century existence, remains as vivid and unblemished now as it did in 1962.

Haigh (whose previous feature was the gay romance “Weekend”) builds this portrait with an accumulation of seemingly humdrum details. At first Geoff’s habit of sneaking cigarettes, despite his already compromised health, might be a little running gag, the kind of thing used in movies about cute “old folks.” But it’s a small index of his ability to keep secrets, and of the damage caused by that.

When Kate talks to a friend about choosing the pop songs that will play at the anniversary party, it sounds like a litany of Sixties tunes — what could be ominous about the Platters or the Turtles? But we are being set up for the film’s devastating final sequence, a long and awkward scene that Charlotte Rampling owns almost without saying a word.

Courtenay is superb, but this is Rampling’s movie. Often cast for her elegant looks and aura of unapproachable mystery, here Rampling plays a woman caught off guard, her complacency shaken.

When Geoff makes a speech at the anniversary party, he goes on for quite a while. But our eyes are on Kate. Rampling’s body language and her tight, careful smile are perfectly deployed here; 45 years of going along with it are coming to a head.

Movies have a tendency to romanticize secret-keeping, I think; it’s often an evocative plot device. One of the refreshing things about “45 Years” is the way it takes apart that notion, instead showing the harm that might come from an unacknowledged secret between two people.

What else has or hasn’t happened because of Geoff’s feeling for a dead woman? What else was put into ice all those years ago? “45 Years” creates a haunted miniature by allowing those questions to be raised, and then letting them hang in the air like smoke.

“45 Years” (4 stars)

Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay star as a couple whose marriage is cracked by a piece of news from the past. From small-scaled material, director Andrew Haigh has created a devastating portrait of the damage that can be done by secrets. The two actors are superb.

Rating: R, for language, subject matter

Showing: SIFF Cinema, Uptown

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

A stroll on Rome's ancient Appian Way is a kind of time travel. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves on the Appian Way, Rome’s ancient superhighway

Twenty-nine highways fanned out from Rome, but this one was the first and remains the most legendary.

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Inside Elle Marie Hair Studio in Smokey Point. (Provided by Acacia Delzer)
The best hair salon in Snohomish County

You voted, we tallied. Here are the results.

The 2024 Kia EV9 electric SUV has room for up to six or seven passengers, depending on seat configuration. (Photo provided by Kia)
Kia’s all-new EV9 electric SUV occupies rarified air

Roomy three-row electric SUVs priced below 60 grand are scarce.

2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD (Photo provided by Toyota)
2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD

The compact SUV electric vehicle offers customers the ultimate flexibility for getting around town in zero emission EV mode or road-tripping in hybrid mode with a range of 440 miles and 42 mile per gallon fuel economy.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.