Andrew Haigh

45 Years

45 Years

In this exquisitely calibrated film, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay perform a subtly off-kilter pas de deux as Kate and Geoff, an English couple who, on the eve of an anniversary celebration, find their long marriage shaken by the arrival of a letter to Geoff that unceremoniously collapses his past into their shared present. Director Andrew Haigh carries the tradition of British realist cinema to artful new heights in 45 Years, weaving the momentous into the mundane as the pair go about their daily lives, while the evocatively flat, wintry Norfolk landscape frames their struggle to maintain an increasingly untenable status quo. Loosely adapting a short story by David Constantine, Haigh shifts the focus from the slightly erratic Geoff to Kate, eliciting a remarkable, nuanced portrayal by Rampling of a woman’s gradual metamorphosis from unflappable wife to woman undone.

Film Info

  • United Kingdom
  • 2015
  • 95 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #861

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • 2K digital transfer, supervised by director Andrew Haigh, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Audio commentary featuring Haigh and producer Tristan Goligher
  • New documentary featuring interviews with Haigh, Goligher, actors Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, editor Jonathan Alberts, and director of photography Lol Crawley
  • New interview with David Constantine, author of the short story on which the film is based
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Ella Taylor

New cover by Anthony Gerace

Purchase Options

Director-Approved Special Edition Features

  • 2K digital transfer, supervised by director Andrew Haigh, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Audio commentary featuring Haigh and producer Tristan Goligher
  • New documentary featuring interviews with Haigh, Goligher, actors Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, editor Jonathan Alberts, and director of photography Lol Crawley
  • New interview with David Constantine, author of the short story on which the film is based
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Ella Taylor

New cover by Anthony Gerace

45 Years
Cast
Charlotte Rampling
Kate Mercer
Tom Courtenay
Geoff Mercer
Geraldine James
Lena
Dolly Wells
Charlotte
David Sibley
George
Sam Alexander
Chris, the postman
Richard Cunningham
Mr. Watkins
Hannah Chalmers
Travel agent
Camille Ucan
Café waitress
Rufus Wright
Jake
Credits
Director
Andrew Haigh
Producer
Tristan Goligher
Director of photography
Lol Crawley
Editor
Jonathan Alberts
Production designer
Sarah Finlay
Sound design
Joakim Sundström
Costumes
Suzie Harman
Makeup
Nicole Stafford
Casting director
Kahleen Crawford

Current

Key of Heartbreak: Charlotte Rampling at the Piano in 45 Years
Key of Heartbreak: Charlotte Rampling at the Piano in 45 Years
Even love that seems built to last might rest on a fragile foundation, a painful truth borne out to subtly devastating effect in Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years. In this delicately calibrated drama—featuring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay as Kate a…
45 Years: Fissures
45 Years: Fissures

With his unique blend of British realism and romantic fatalism, director Andrew Haigh exposes the quiet desperation at the heart of a long marriage.

By Ella Taylor

When a Lovely Flame Dies: The Climactic Heartbreaker in 45 Years

Songbook

When a Lovely Flame Dies: The Climactic Heartbreaker in 45 Years

The Platters’ impassioned rendition of the pop chestnut “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” highlights the irrevocable loss in Andrew Haigh’s marriage drama.

By Michael Koresky

Ari Aster’s Top 10
Ari Aster’s Top 10

The director of Hereditary writes on the filmmakers who get him excited about making movies.

Chasing Ice: The 45 Years Photographs
Chasing Ice: The 45 Years Photographs
In late 2016, I was commissioned by the Criterion Collection to photograph the cover and interiors for the edition of Andrew Haigh’s masterful 45 Years. I’m a photographer and artist based in the UK, and I had first worked with Criterion last Apr…

By Anthony Gerace