Haneke’s Amour Wins Again

Michael Haneke’s Amour was the top winner at the European Film Awards 2012 ceremony held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, Malta.

The film took the awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress, having already picked up the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival last May, the second time Haneke has received the honour. The Austrian director won the award for the best film for The White Ribbon in May 2009. Amour will be a major picture in the Best Foreign Film race this season, and Austria has selected the film as its official entry into the Oscar category.

The narrative of Liebe revolves around the elderly couple Georges and Anne Laurent, played by two veterans of the screen: Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emanuelle Riva. Haneke explores the struggles of two ageing pianists, whose later years, still rich and active, are shattered when Anne has a stroke, and Georges, himself frail enough, takes on the tasks of her care.

For a review of Liebe, see "Haneke on Ageing, Loss - and Liebe" in Sept. 2012 TVR.