Arnon Grunberg

Suspicions

The weak

Teju Cole on Michael Haneke’s movie “Amour”:

“We see the lives and daily rituals of a pair of retired piano teachers. One of them has had a stroke, and the other cares for her. It is sad, but it isn’t vicious or unsettling.”

(Read the complete article here.)

I happen to disagree with Teju Cole. “Amour” is as unsettling and vicious as the waterboarding scene in “Zero Dark Thirty”. Whether it’s Haneke’s best movie is another question. It lacks the psychological depth of “Caché”, “The White Ribbon” or “Funny Games”. But it confirms your worst suspicions about getting older. Old age is not a place for the weak.
A reporter in Afghanistan once told me: “Die before you get kidnapped.” After seeing this movie I would say: die before you are at the mercy of nurses.

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