Wow. I went to watch Amour last night. You are reminded of so many difficult to confront truths. Old age ain't for sissies. Dying is a messy affair. I hadn't given much thought to euthanasia in the last so many years, but the film confronts this, slicing across the grain of the situational cinematic slow bleed - in a swift, jarring, and unsettling moment. A failure of love? Yes. Could I do that, for another human being, in agony? I shudder to think of it.
I had to wonder, after watching it, is this really what God intended for us all? A personal, disintegrating, and pain filled incapacitation? It can't be. I think I was in tears at several points throughout the film. There were moments in the film, aside from the main theme, that actually worked, in a way - to highlight the absurdity of death - the elderly husband chasing a pigeon around their Paris apartment as his wife slips away.
Bach’s "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" played a small part in the film. A part of which lyrically goes: "True faith from Thee, my God, I seek, The faith that loves Thee solely. Keeps me lowly, And prompt to aid the weak." Given the shocking storyline, that was either irony - or a missed opportunity to grasp on the part of the husband. I didn't think the film endorsed euthanasia any more than the story of Romeo and Juliet defended suicide. A tragedy. Heavy. Very heavy.
