Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

proud_luddite Kate (Charlotte Rampling) and Jeff (Tom Courtenay) are a retired, childless couple who live in the countryside region in Norfolk, England. When Jeff receives information about a former lover long gone, the internal lives of each are affected as is their marriage.As the story is of the day-to-day lives of this couple and the various other people in their lives (plus a beautiful dog), the pace seems slow but it is always steady and intriguing thanks partly to director/writer Alexander Haigh. The many quiet scenes lead magnificently to a grand event that is familiar to many of us: a crowded anniversary party. Haigh's screenplay also includes gems about the process of aging including the reflection on how life choices change when one ages.Courtenay is very convincing as someone who withdraws due to the recall of old grief. He also has a great moment in the final scene.But it is fair to say that the movie truly belongs to Rampling. In addition to the film's narrative, she tells a parallel story of her inner life with deep facial expressions and subtle body movements. In scenes when she's with someone else, one is more inclined to watch her as she listens rather than the speaker.Whenever I note an outstanding performance (as I do below), there is usually at least one "meltdown" scene in which the performer chews the scenery. That never happens in "45 Years". But Rampling's subtlety is so powerful and unique that her performance is exceptional. Though she was born well after the end of the silent move era, she could easily have been a silent film superstar with her unique talents.OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT: Lead Performance by Charlotte Rampling

Roland E. Zwick How would you feel if you suddenly discovered that your life partner of close to half a century had been secretly harboring a passion for someone else? That's the dilemma facing the elderly couple at the heart of "45 Years," a moody, low-keyed British drama (based on the novel by "In Another Country" by David Constantine) that focuses on a marriage that seems destined for anything but a happily-ever-after ending.With the physical fragility and lived-in faces that come with age, two icons of British cinema, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courteney, portray Kate and Geoff Mercer, a seemingly contented couple on the verge of celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary. A few days before the elaborately planned event, however, Geoff confesses to Kate that he was once seriously involved with a woman who died tragically in a mountain- climbing accident before he and Kate met. Despite the roughly 50 years that have elapsed since the woman's death, Kate finds herself unable to come to terms with the feeling of deceit and betrayal that gnaws at her day and night over the "infidelity" of the man she thought she knew and to whom she had fully given over her heart. Yet, Kate, perhaps cognizant of how petty she might appear making too much of something that happened so long ago, chooses to seethe pretty much in silence, venting her hurt and anger in nonverbal and largely passive aggressive ways. But for Kate, this revelation has "tainted" everything that has come before in the relationship - a strikingly sad prospect when there is so little time left to rectify the mistake or to recover what the couple once had between them.Ascetic direction by writer Andrew Haigh - austere close-ups of the characters alternating with stark images of the largely sunless rural countryside - perfectly captures the internal drama taking place within this suddenly altered marriage. The bitterness of the tale is encapsulated most effectively in the uncompromising final shot, a brief but lucid moment that shows how the most brutal of messages can often be conveyed through the tiniest of gestures.

tonypeacock-1 Oh dear. What can I say except I feel as if I have aged 45 years watching this feature. The low budget UK film focuses on the 45th wedding anniversary of Kate and Geoff Mercer (Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courteney). Shortly prior to the anniversary party Geoff receives the news that his pre-marriage sweetheart has been found frozen and preserved in a Switzerland glacier. Kate is shocked to discover that Geoff is the next of kin as the Swiss authorities were wrongly under the impression that the dead lady and Geoff were married. To cut a long (and dreary) story short Kate feels not worthy. Kate is a retired schoolteacher with the mannerisms of Mrs. McCluskie off eighties UK TV drama Grange Hill. I can imagine Norfolk couple Kate and Geoff discussing the merits of the pedestrianisation of Norwich City Centre over the dinner table!Certainly a film I won't ever watch again. It has the production values of an episode of a low budget TV program and the boredom factor to boot.

DrGerbil My feelings about this film have been expressed very well by other reviewers. I will just add a few details.First of all, it's a little bit rare to see a film about an elderly couple, which I think is a plus. The actors are top-notch, which is also a plus.Having said that, this seems to be a film about nothing. We understand that the husband is secretly obsessed with a woman who died some fifty years ago. We also understand that the wife is distressed by his obsession with his deceased ex-lover.Perhaps I have seen too many movies where there is an interesting arc, or some kind of payoff at the end. This film has no such arc or payoff.It's like watching a slice of real life, which is mainly rather dull. What's wrong with a film about real life? Nothing. However, I want to be entertained when I watch a movie. I want to be engaged with the characters and to feel something at the end.This is more like watching a pointless video diary of two unhappy people.