If Andrew Haigh's 45 Years were a French film, the two characters Kate and Geoff would be ranting and raving all over the screen, having wild, angry sex, calling each other names I can't repeat, running screaming into the rain at night and crashing their car into the sea.
It's a British film though, so the two chew on their lips more than on each other. They're terribly contained about what they think or feel. Their speech is careful and proper. It's because of the restraint that what goes on between them comes through and is so softly devastating.
45 Years starts with a very long shot of Kate (Charlotte Rampling) across a huge misty green field, walking the dog, a white cottage in the deep background. When she gets closer, you see she's wearing jeans, and the kind of relaxed, comfortable L.L. Bean-ish outdoor wear that says she has a sense of style and cares about how she looks. Her hair may be dyed, it's auburn, and helps her look lively. As she enters the house, she's humming "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" – the version sung by The Platters in 1958. Geoff (Tom Courtenay) sits at the table in the kitchen. His hair's gray; his voice is thin. He looks a lot older than Kate and uncertain in the eyes.
They're on the verge of their 45th wedding anniversary when Tom gets word that the body of an old girlfriend – after about 50 years – has been found in Switzerland. Katya fell into a crevasse in the Alps when the two were hiking. Now, the body has surfaced in the ice, and Geoff is thinking about whether he wants to see it.
The fact that Geoff was once in love with Katya doesn't bother Kate, but it's disturbing that enough connection still exists that he is notified. Other hints of Geoff's lingering feelings for this long-dead woman arise; they mount up and set Kate off balance.
45 Years looks like a search for the real Geoff. The movie shows the side of his face or the back of his head more than the front. He feels elusive, like he's hiding something. As he tells the story of his time with Katya, Kate has to ask lots of questions to pull out the information. Maybe he's been just partly present all along. Now, for the first time, Kate has to evaluate what their life has been and what it's meant. They have no children. It's just the two of them in retirement, with their shared history and a bunch of stuff in the attic, which they get to by struggling up a long ladder into a trap door. It takes work to open up their past.
45 Years is not a "big secret" picture. There's no gorilla hiding in the recesses of their house; instead bits of disconcerting information slither out and Kate's face grows progressively worried and preoccupied. Unlike Geoff, Kate gets full-face shots all through the movie. The film's a study of Kate's face, and Charlotte Rampling has an Oscar nomination for her work.
Recent movies about old people tend to be about memory loss and other infirmities, as if vibrant living is impossible when human beings age. Kate and Geoff are creaky at times, and while you wonder about Geoff's memory, as it turns out, there's more memory than either of these characters might want. They're awash in memory, which throws them off-kilter.
In its way, 45 Years teases at Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway. Like Mrs. Dalloway, Kate is planning a big party and has things to worry about, and more and more concerns get in the way. Kate is mostly alone in her thoughts. Geoff isn't much help on the party. He seems lost in thought and locked into himself. The movie is a picture of a relationship, but from 45 years into the marriage, clearing the smoke leaves a lot of questions.
