The following sentence is not hyperbole: Amour is the best movie of 2012. Nowhere will you find a more honest, searching and complex story told with such ease, care and compassion.

A loving married couple, Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) and Georges, (Jean-Louis Trintignant), both retired music teachers in their 80s, find their marriage taking a markedly different turn when Anne suffers a stroke. At first, Anne is able to retain something of her former self.

Then things get worse—and quickly. What makes this end-of-life story different from all the crappy end-of-life stories out there is its unsentimental take on Anne’s deterioration.Then there’s Georges’ ambivalence, devotion and determination.

Riva is as wonderful as you’ve heard, and Trintignant deserves more acclaim than he’s received.

That smoldering anger that always seems beneath the surface, even when he’s playing something lightly? It’s here, and it’s used to great effect as tries to manage the end of his wife’s life.

The movie takes place almost entirely inside Georges and Anne’s Paris apartment, and what could be a stifling trap becomes another character thanks to smart production design.

See Amour. Now.

CCA Cinematheque / PG-13 / 89 min.