In 2011, Andrew Haigh burst on to the British cinematic landscape with his heart-wrenching drama, Weekend, which charted the blossoming romance between two men. Now Haigh returns with an equally devastating and poetic relationship drama, 45 Years, loosely based on the short story by David Constantine and starring British screen legends Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, who each won the top acting awards at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
The Sixties icons star as Kate and Geoff, a couple approaching their 45th wedding anniversary. As preparations are steadily underway, Geoff receives a letter informing him that the body of his former lover has been discovered frozen in a glacier in Switzerland. The news disturbs Geoff and Kate’s domestic bliss, throwing doubts over whether the couple will have a marriage to celebrate in a week’s time.
Recalling his first thoughts of the short story, which he read whilst making Weekend, Haigh said, “I was worried that people would reject the idea, but I knew that it had the potential to make audiences look back and think about their lives as it did with me.” He continues, “It reminds you of the passion and excitement [of young love], the thrill of when you first become sexually awakened, because when you are young it is an overwhelming feeling, but as you get older it isn’t the same.”
Themes of identity and how our relationships inform who we are and how that reflects how we see our place in the world are pertinent themes in Haigh’s work. “I find relationships fascinating, but that is part of my interest in identity as a whole. Romantic relationships are so important to our lives. To me, it is of such profound importance that it should be in cinema, and not only in the form of the romantic comedy. It should be about looking at relationships and why they are important to us,” he says.
The themes of relationships and identity are central to both 45 Years and Weekend, both of which can be seen as companion pieces through the way they richly explore love and relationships in a deeply modern way.
For Haigh, there is little difference in exploring the homosexual relationship shared by Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New) to that of Kate and Geoff. “When you are gay you talk about the same things and the same emotional state as someone who isn’t gay. I think part of the problem for gay acceptance in society is people don’t associate gay relationships as full of the love and fear we associate with heterosexual relationships,” says Haigh.
Continuing this idea of the universality of the emotions we all experience in relationships, gay or heterosexual, young or old, Haigh explains how he got into the mindset of a couple in their seventies. Discussing Kate and Geoff’s relationship and their age, Haigh said, “I have thought about how I would think about Kate and Geoff’s situation. A useful thought was that I couldn’t believe that the things that are in my head now won’t be there when I am 70.”
At that moment I couldn’t quite believe we had Charlotte Rampling wandering past Primark!
Haigh wanted this on-screen relationship to feel as contemporary as possible and found that “the couple could be 40 or 25. You can be 30 and still remember what it was to be 14. 45 Years is a drama that I wanted to feel as realistic and as contemporary as possible.”
One of the challenges that he faced was making audiences believe that Rampling, an actress known for her glamorous appearance, could be a woman living in domesticity on the outskirts of Norwich. “I was initially worried that audiences could believe that Charlotte could live in that house and walk around the streets of Norwich,” said Haigh. He recalls a moment when Rampling headed into Norwich city center: “there is a moment where she is walking around town. We shot it with a camera hidden in a van so that nobody could see us. Amazingly, no one looked at her, and at that moment I couldn’t quite believe we had Charlotte Rampling wandering past Primark!”
As much as it is a testament to Rampling’s ability as an actress, this naturalism that Haigh can create for his actors is a key to the film’s ultimate success. His method is never to rehearse extensively with his actors, and never to prepare too much. Keeping a tight crew, and giving space to his actors allows for a more naturalistic and realistic performance. His approach also allows us to see these two great British talents as we have never seen them before, in a domestic, homely setting, experiencing everyday life.
“What helped is that audiences have never seen either Charlotte or Tom in a naturalistic setting. There was one scene that we eventually cut that was going to be the beginning of the film. We had Charlotte making a cup of tea and it lasted about five minutes. I was convinced that was the opening to the film, but eventually I realised we didn’t need it. I still love the idea of this one long scene of Charlotte Rampling making this cup of tea, though.”
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