Writer-director Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years is a two-hander about aging that refuses to walk the generally prescribed paths of shedding sentiment and/or dwelling on disease, and for that alone, it deserves hardy praise. On the eve of a couple’s 45th anniversary, news arrives of the discovery of a body found frozen in ice that sets off frost warnings in the marriage, because the departed is the husband’s long-ago lover. Haigh provides the gist of tiny bits of information – we’re frequently asked to weigh the subtle difference between day-to-day details and the memories that we stockpile – that gradually explode within two people. As the counteractive couple, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are so tight, you’d swear they had been rehearsing for the past 45 years. Rampling in particular has spent a quarter-century honing her craft, and it shows with every sinewy downturn of her gilt-edged features. An intensely emotional time at the movies, and one you shouldn’t miss. (2015) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.