by Bonnie Anderson and Dan Webster
Quoting a song in a title might be highly unusual. But in the movie, ‘45 Years’ the soundtrack is almost a character.
Charlotte Rampling may be up for Best Actress in this year’s Oscar competition but it’s the songs that add so much depth to this story. Movie goers who remember hearing new releases of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” by The Platters or “Young Girl” by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap will especially be drawn into this film.
This is a story about love. We’re not calling it a love story and you’ll see why when you catch this rich and very human story on screen. It truly is powerfully acted by Rampling but Tom Courtenay is superb, as well. It was also gratifying to see one of the nationally known film critics admit this movie should have been on his top ten list.
This film explores the depths of a marriage relationship we don’t usually see. It is set in the English countryside with all the bucolic scenes one might expect. That sweet innocence just helps drive home the fact that inside every home, every family, every life there are secrets and shadows of lives some would like best left alone.
Watch this film with the biblical admonition in mind of forgiving others seventy times seven. See if you can apply this to this story or even in your own life. Make sure you don’t just think the music soundtrack is only background. Carefully listening to the lyrics underscores the important theme of the film.