In the poignant 45 Years, Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling play Geoff and Kate Mercer, a couple without children who are about to celebrate a big wedding anniversary. As preparations are underway for their gala party, Geoff receives a letter that throws a wrench into their peaceful lives. The letter, from Switzerland, informs Geoff that a body of a young woman has been found — his girlfriend, Katya, who he was with before he ever met Kate. Katya died in 1962 when she fell into a fissure in a glacier during a trip the couple took to Switzerland. As their celebration nears, Kate becomes increasingly disturbed by Geoff’s preoccupation with Katya, and it eventually causes her to question the life that they’ve built together. British writer/director Andrew Haigh (Weekend, HBO’s Looking) brings a deft touch to this acting tour-de-force. I sat down with him in Los Angeles to discuss the film which moves into wider release today.
Danny Miller: It was thrilling watching Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling in these roles. Such amazing acting from the two of them, full of tiny little moments that revealed so much about their characters.
Andrew Haigh: Yes, it was such a joy to work with actors of that caliber and to allow them the space to have those moments. This is a film that is all about those really small gestures that help you understand a character’s psychology. I love being able to see those things and when you build them up slowly throughout a film they can have a really powerful effect.
So there were things that Tom and Charlotte did that weren’t necessarily in the script?
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I focused on a lot of those small moments in my script but then you kind of give it over to them. I’m not the kind of director who would sit them down and say, “So, I need you to have this emotional moment right here and here’s how I think you should get there.”
“Arch your eyebrows in this scene, Charlotte.”
(Laughs.) Right. I would never do that! You talk about things and then you set them free to do what they want to do. Of course, it helps to have actors who are so great at doing that. Sometimes I’d do multiple takes, not because I had any idea what I wanted to be different, I just wanted to see what would happen. Charlotte and Tom and very good at digging deep and finding the truthfulness in the moment. It’s so fascinating to me to just watch someone’s face and see the changes. Even if you’re not entirely sure what’s happening behind their eyes, you know that something is evolving.
Charlotte Rampling’s face is a study in what you can convey with just your expression. I think if she had been born 50 years earlier she would have been a top star during the silent era.
Yes! I’ve always thought that she’d have been such an amazing silent movie star — she doesn’t need to say a word!
And Tom Courtenay, who I had the chance to talk to in December, is so brilliant, too — and one of the nicest guys on the planet.
He really is so sweet and dedicated to what he wants to do. The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner is one of my favorite films of all time, I loved it so much. Sometimes when I’m doing these Q&As and sitting there with Charlotte and Tom, I think to myself, “How has this happened?” It’s just crazy for me, I love both of these actors so much.
Did you feel intimidated by them at all?
A little bit at first. But once you start talking to someone, their persona vanishes, it doesn’t mean anything because they’re just someone trying to do the best that they can in their work. I think everyone is a little nervous on the first day of a film, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past. Tom’s had two Oscar nominations but that doesn’t mean it’s not a scary thing to start a new film.
In this case I can see that nervousness helping with the story.
Exactly, I wanted to embrace that fear on the first day. But on any film you’re always like a bunch of scared kids trying to make something!
It’s so interesting that while this is a very “simple” film about human emotions, it has this really dramatic, unusual thing that happened in the background — the discovery of this frozen body. Did that dichotomy ever give you pause?
Yes, I totally worried about it from the beginning. The film is based on a short story that included that episode. It’s very literary in its construct. It’s such a strange thing that happened so I worked hard to make it less strange and believable. In this story, it just throws everyone off balance. Kate and Geoff are off balance as they deal with it and so is the audience. What’s this film going to be about? Is it going to turn into a horror film? Is Katya going to come back as a ghost? Are they going to go to Switzerland and have it turn into a mountaineering movie?
I love that the two main characters are older. Would it be accurate to say that the hideous ageism that exists in the film industry here is not as prevalent in the UK?
Hmm, I think it’s still pretty prevalent. I think movie executives are terrified of a film featuring older actors, which makes no sense to me since I think the majority of the moviegoing public these days is older. I honestly don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to make a lot more films about the older generation. But no, I think it’s the same in England — the films that get made about older people are often more geared towards comedy, they don’t seem to want to look at getting older in a more serious way. I think countries like France, Sweden, and Norway are much more interested in dealing with aging, but I don’t think Britain or America are very good at that.
Yeah, and when they do feature older characters, they make them very cutesy which really turns my stomach.
I know. Look at someone like Tom. He may be 77 but that sure doesn’t mean that he should be playing some doddering man who’s making crude jokes about how he used to have sex 40 years ago.
Or the new thing where older people are often oversexualized for laughs.
Yes, it turns them into these kooky characters, I just don’t understand it. I can’t imagine that when I get older that I’ll become like that! I think you’re a very similar person when you’re 70 than you were when you were 30 — your core is exactly the same even if your body is getting older. I’ve always thought that people get “set” at a certain age. It’s so interesting when you ask people how old they “feel.” Some will say 17 or 39 or 50, and their answer usually makes sense when you see them in the world.
What about you?
I think it was when I was about 34 — I’m 43 now. But that was the age when I feel like I became a bit set in stone. How about you?
Hmm…something more like 28, I think. I’m not sure I could explain why, though!
That makes sense to me. Even the little I’ve met you, I think 28 feels right. It all depends what was happening in your life at that time.
Oh wow, I moved from the Midwest to Los Angeles when I was 28 — and that was a huge thing for me to leave my family and everything I knew.
I think the age we get “set” is when we first start think, “I’m a little closer to living the life I want to live, I’m closer to being what I think is authentic. “ It doesn’t mean you don’t continue to change, of course, but I do think certain things get a little set.
It’s so true. You know, I guess we bring a lot of our own stuff to every moviegoing experience, but unlike a lot of reviews I’ve read, I have to say that I have very high hopes for this marriage. To my way of thinking, Kate is more suited to Geoff than Katya ever was and I think he knows that.
A lot of people have very different opinions, but in terms of how I think Geoff feels, I completely agree with you. I think he absolutely loves Kate and doesn’t really want to be with Katya. He’s definitely thrown into crisis about who he thought he would be at that age but in the end it’s more about him than it is about Katya. I think he comes to realize that his wife is everything to him. So when he says that in the speech I think he’s absolutely meaning it. But the sad thing for me is that I’m not completely sure whether she believes it anymore. Their lives have definitely been disrupted by this thing that has happened.
I wanted to take Geoff aside, and say here’s what you need to say to Kate. “Honey, I know I’ve been acting strangely because of this business with Katya, but I just want you to know how much I love you and our life together!”
I know! I always think that when they try to have sex in that scene, if they had just succeeded in that moment they might have really reconnected and gotten over everything. But in all relationships I think it’s hard to see when you’re drifting away from each other or when our partners just need a little reassurance.
I so enjoyed Looking and thought the show really came into its own in the second season so I was pissed when it was cancelled.
Well, we just finished shooting a movie for HBO that we’re editing now. It’s a kind of wrap-up for those characters. I always wanted to bring it to a certain kind of ending and HBO wanted that, too, so at least we got to finish it off!