A good sub-title for the film 45 Years may be The Loneliness of the Long Distance Marriage. (I'm borrowing from the star Tom Courtenay's previous -- and most famous -- role.) This is a meditation on who we are as a couple and who we are as ourselves. It explores the choices we make which can lead to happiness (maybe contentment or satisfaction are better words here) or unhappiness -- or if these are choices at all.
At first I thought the story was going to be about lost youth, lost love, and the power of the past to invade the present. And yes, these familiar themes are evident. But the film gives us much more when it goes on to explore how and if we can ever know one another, and how resilient we can be when coming to the inevitable realization that we face life with what is inside us and that has to be enough.
