With “45 Years,” which opens at Ritz Theatres Feb. 12, out writer/director Andrew Haigh (“Weekend” and HBO’s “Looking”) has created another indelible film about the power and nature of personal relationships. Adapted from David Constantine’s short story “In Another Country,” this taut British drama depicts a week in the life of Kate (Charlotte Rampling) and Geoff (Tom Courtenay), a couple who is forced to reevaluate their relationship as they approach a milestone wedding anniversary.
The catalyst for their crisis is a letter Geoff receives containing news from his past. How the information taints their lives — eating away at both characters in different ways — forms the basis for this intimate, absorbing drama. Haigh employs superb control as a filmmaker, letting the tensions simmer before the quietly devastating ending.
In a phone interview, Haigh explained that, in many ways, “45 Years” is a bookend to “Weekend,” his fantastic 2011 feature about two gay men who spend 48 hours together. “That was a gay relationship looking forward, and this is a straight relationship looking back,” he said. “What appealed to me is that I could explore relationships, and our identities within relationships. For most of us, the relationships we have are the most important thing in our lives. That’s fertile ground to explore characters and look at people. But in cinema they are put into romantic comedies, so I’m interested in the relationships we have with other people.”
The filmmaker wanted to make “45 Years” even before he filmed “Weekend.” Constantine’s story “became lodged in my head,” Haigh acknowledged, adding that “it wasn’t a reaction to being classified as a queer filmmaker — that label doesn’t bother me. I have to ignore the boxes people put me in. I don’t only want to tell gay stories. I just want to tell stories that interest me. Sometimes they are gay, sometimes not, but they will always have my perspective.”
The film spoke to Haigh’s interest in relationships because it allowed him to look at characters grappling with their internal feelings. The news Geoff receives has a pronounced effect on him, but it ultimately has a far greater impact on Kate.
Viewers will be knocked out by Rampling’s exceptional, Oscar-nominated performance. The actress effectively shows just how disturbed Kate becomes. Haigh cast Rampling first because he wanted a strong female lead.
“She has a mystery that draws you in, and you see this sympathy of emotion behind her eyes, and then she pushes you away,” Haigh said. “The characters are trying to express their pain to each other, and Rampling can do that with a look or feeling.”
The filmmaker explained further about the nature of the film: “‘45 Years’ becomes a haunted-house ghost story; the past has infected this house. There’s a strange growing tension. The couple is long-lasting, but their relationship has this fragility to it.”
He continued, “I think the past always influences our relationships. We can’t escape our past no matter how much we want to. The hardest thing is that we all have our individual pasts and feelings and doubts and fears and anxieties. Some things you shouldn’t articulate to your partner; you don’t want to risk that love or have them become unsettled or disappointed or broken by something you feel. In an ideal world you would be 100-percent honest with each other, but life doesn’t work quite that way. It’s impossible to put the past to rest. Every decision we make is based on our experience, despite self-help books promoting us to move on. The past will always come back and cause issues.”
When asked about any secrets he might want to share from his past, Haigh demurred.
“No, probably not. There is a difference between being dishonest and having a past life. Some secrets or feelings we keep, you can’t share because you can’t articulate how you feel about them. Life is complicated and messy.”
Haigh was also cagey about his plans for the film “Looking for an Ending” — the “finale” to his cancelled HBO series.
“I’m shooting it at the moment. You’ll have to wait and see.”
Yet what Haigh could discuss is how he came to be such a keen observer of human nature.
“You look around, and in everyday life there is struggle, and they are small in scale, but life is so difficult. I want to tell stories in a kind way, of us doing the best we can. I like to get up close and personal, and feel that, and bring kindness to the characters as I explore that and watch them.”