Kate and Geoff Mercer (Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay) have spent most of their lives together; having weathered their share of adversity, including Geoff’s heart attack a few years back, these retired spouses aren’t easily fazed. But at the start of Andrew Haigh’s stellar drama 45 Years, they learn that the body of Geoff’s former girlfriend, Katya, has been found on the Swiss mountainside where she perished in a 1962 hiking accident. Geoff told Kate about the tragedy decades earlier, and the dead lover has receded in their memories. But now the snow over the glacier crevasse where she was entombed has melted, revealing her perfectly preserved. Climate change is particularly appropriate as a plot device here: the receding glacier exposes not only the corpse but also nagging doubts and messy emotions, just in time for the Mercers’ upcoming 45th wedding anniversary.
The problems begin with Geoff, so abruptly sideswiped by grief. The Swiss authorities have contacted him as Katya’s next of kin—as he reveals to Kate, he and Katya posed as married so they could bunk together in people’s homes. This fairly innocuous admission upsets Kate, as does Geoff’s response to his own agitation: “Don’t be cross, Kate, I’m going out for a smoke.” His smoking becomes more frequent; returning home at one point, she opens a window, gently chiding, “I don’t want us to start smoking again.” They gave up smoking together, and not only is his resumption of the habit dangerous for his heart, it’s breaking their pact. Geoff is also mulling over the Swiss authorities’ suggestion that he return to the Alps, presumably to identify Katya’s body. “You aren’t thinking of going?” Kate asks in horror. “You don’t even want to go for a walk with me on the Broads, and that’s as flat as a pancake.”
Directed by Andrew Haigh. R, 95 min. Landmark’s Century Centre
