It’s
hard to generate, let alone sustain, dramatic tension in
a plot that has been done so many times before, and Amour
has little to add to the bored-housewife-leaves-husband-for-another-woman
genre. Will Jeanne ultimately leave her husband for Marie?
Jeanne and Marie’s story is explored with so little
oomph that as the final credits roll, it’s hard to
muster the curiosity to ponder their ultimate fate as a
couple. It’s simply hard to feel invested in characters
that are so thinly developed.
Among
the many unexplained aspects of the story is why Jeanne
suddenly decides to switch teams after eight years of marriage.
There’s no indication that she’s even had particularly
close relationships with women in the past. Her only friend
in the movie before Marie comes along is a woman who laughs
at her and asks if it’s a joke when Jeanne tells her
she has fallen in love with a woman. Jeanne—a health
professional—has as little in common and as little
emotional closeness with her one friend—who smokes
while pregnant—as she does with her husband. Or with
Marie for that matter. Jeanne is thoroughly unattached.
Jeanne’s
life with David doesn’t seem to be particularly
fulfilling to her. Shortly after they arrive at the party
he takes off to hang with his buddies. Jeanne doesn’t
seem to know anyone there and roams the party aimlessly,
looking awkward and somewhat bored, until she and Marie
strike up a conversation. Once they’ve begun their
affair and David learns of it, the viewer learns that it
isn’t the first act of infidelity in their marriage.
He demands to know whether “this lesbian thing”
is genuine or if she is simply trying to get back at him.
Jeanne
may feel unfulfilled in their marriage but she also seems
more generally restless and dissatisfied with life. She
picks at her food at a restaurant and Marie asks if she’s
unhappy with what she ordered. Jeanne answers that she always
orders what she doesn’t like. It’s unclear whether
her lust for life has long been in disarray or if it’s
just her eating that’s somewhat disordered.
Jeanne’s
general unhappiness certainly affects her body image. When
the tall, slim beauty decides to attend Marie’s dance
class shortly after meeting her at the party, she digs a
shiny fuchsia unitard out of her closet. It’s a fashion
statement that supports her claim not to have danced in
ten years, something she only realizes she has missed once
she meets Marie. Jeanne tries it on and vamps in the mirror
coquettishly, until the music as well as her spirits fizzle.
She stops dancing and grimaces while prodding her washboard
belly as if it were plump.
Perhaps
motherhood has affected her spirits more than her waistline
and she feels disillusioned by it as well as by marriage.
In her professional life Jeanne heals people and cares for
them but she doesn’t seem to be cared for herself.
The suggestion is that she is neglected but has resigned
herself to this neglect until she meets Marie and remembers
that life can be so much more vibrant. Jeanne tells Marie
that she’s the most alive person she knows, but Jeanne
seems drawn more to Marie’s joie de vivre rather than
to the woman herself.
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