45 Years

...it borrows not just a premise and passages of sharp dialogue from its source material, but also the barbed efficiency of the short-fiction format...

I most admire Haigh’s use of golden oldies, including era-appropriate selections picked by Kate to play during their party, that provide telling yet unobtrusive commentary.

...a brilliantly modulated character study of lives thrown off-kilter by a slowly expanding secret.

Music, too, is terrifying: old tunes with intense associations will occasionally come on the radio – songs that must either be loyally sung and danced along to, or firmly turned off.

There’s no room to hide, and Courtenay and Rampling are at the top of their game throughout, drawing us into their hopes and fears even as we watch them from a distance.