We’d like to see all love stories end happily ever after.  The “ever after” part would presumably mean the two characters die happily in their sleep at the exact same time.  However, much like love at first sight, this kind of ever after is somewhat rare.  Instead, the end of a loving relationship is likely filled with grief and loneliness.  Michael Haneke‘s Amour looks at the slow, painful decay of a marriage where we’re forced to question how love can endure when a loved one cannot.  The experience of watching his movie is exceedingly agonizing, and is more horrific than any film featuring a lunatic with a chainsaw.  And yet for all of its brutal honesty, Amour can’t help but feel obvious, which makes the emotional impact feel more exploitative than revelatory.

Two new clips have gone online for director Michael Haneke’s 2012 Palme d’Or-winning drama, Amour.  The touching story centers on a married couple in their eighties and the struggle they endure as each others’ mental and physical health begins to fail.  I haven’t seen the film, but if these two incredibly poignant and emotional clips are any indication, then Amour certainly has more awards in its near future.

Amour, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert, opens domestically in limited release on December 19th.  Hit the jump to see the new clips. 

Costa-Gavras’s Z is the ultimate political thriller. Much like the earlier Battle of Algiers (1968)  it takes a real event, and uses it as fodder for cinema. And as a paranoia piece, 1969′s Z is a masterpiece.  It’s an angry film, spurned by the events of 1963, where a Greek politician was assassinated, and was murdered partly by the police, and the regime at the time. It’s a film that can make you angry about events of nearly a half century ago, and yet the echoes of the actions are still resonant. My review after the jump.