45 Years

2015 ghost story

Rating: 16/20

Plot: A dead woman fucks up a couple's 45th anniversary party.

How devastating it would be to think you're being haunted--to feel an ominous cool air from the attic, to sense doorways moving on their own behind you, to catch slideshow images changing expressions--and then eventually realize that you've been the ghost the whole time. That's Kate Mercer's epiphany is Andrew Haigh's shattering look at the week leading up to her 45th anniversary party with her husband Geoff. The week opens with a letter with news of a body's icy discovery, and each day unfurls some new discovery that will make a speech, a dance, and a final shot that much more poignant.

Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are both so good, and there really wasn't a time when it didn't just seem like they were a real couple who had had 45 years to discover each other's secrets, to be there in sickness and in health, and to share toothpaste. The two actors feed off each other, and the glances, the exchanges, and their timing are impeccable. Together, they create the Mercers more than they create their own individual characters. Of course, Rampling's Kate is really our main character as she drives the action, makes discoveries, and gets featured in that aforementioned perfect final shot. And like all great performances, there so much within the pauses, and what is unspoken is just as important as what is spoken.