45 YEARS

I have no doubt that in 70 years from now Andrew Haigh's new film will be as highly thought of as "Brief Encounter" is today. "Brief Encounter" dealt with a love affair that wasn't and the effect it had on a conventional middle-class marriage. "45 Years" is set within similar territory but here the disruptive love affair is, arguably, all the more powerful and its effect all the more devastating. It takes place over six days, Monday to Saturday, and begins when husband Geoff receives a letter in German informing him that the body of the girl he loved 50 years before, and who died in an accident in the Swiss mountains, had been found, presumably preserved in ice just as she was the day he lost her, and ends up at the party held to celebrate Geoff's 45 year marriage to Kate.

It's a love story, plain and simple, and is, in its quiet way, unbearably moving. As the days pass between the receipt of the letter and the planned party, Kate comes to realise that she might not have been first in Geoff's affections, let alone the great love of his life and this knowledge becomes unbearable to her. For most of the picture Geoff and Kate are the only two characters on the screen, (the only other sizeable part is that of Lena, Kate's best friend, beautifully played by Geraldine James). In a very short space of time we get to know these people intimately. It helps that they are magnificently played by Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling, neither of whom has ever been as good before and both of whom should be brushing up on their acceptance speeches come the awards season, (they have both already taken home Silver Bears at Berlin). The picture belongs very much to them but it also establishes Andrew Haigh as perhaps the foremost director working in Britain today; the leap from "Greek Pete" through "Weekend" to this is staggering. Haigh never puts a foot wrong; every detail of the picture is perfect. Nor is there an ounce of sentimentality to be found though the closing scene is a heart-breaker of the kind rarely found in the cinema. I have no hesitation in calling "45 Years" a masterpiece. Its success in Britain is guaranteed; let's hope the Academy are as welcoming come Oscar time.