Man. Um... yeah.

This is a typically Haneke-ian flick. Cold, methodical, unsentimental to the max. But it's about subject matter-- the cruel indignity that comes with the eventual death of your loved ones-- that is inherently quite sentimental.

It's executed pretty flawlessly. The performances are top drawer. The structure is meticulously crafted. Every moment resonates.

I wasn't particularly moved by the love that defines our life, as there's not a great deal of focus on that-- instead, the focus is on the slow march to the grave. The first 45 minutes is more unsentimentally affectionate (if that makes sense) than watching a woman with a stroke scream as her husband struggles to cling to sanity. Which, naturally, made me prefer that section of the film. I don't like watching horrible things to watch.

Still, it's a master class in structure, acting, and how to deal with sentimental subject matter in an unsentimental way. And it's most definitely worth seeing.

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