Amour (2012)

First and foremost, do not think about this as a light romantic comedy.  It is super serious, sobering, and disturbing.  The director is in no mood to spare you any of the pain and suffering that this elderly couple go through as she slowly slips from life with a series of strokes.  You are meant to squirm and be uncomfortable and to think about your grandparents, your parents, your friends, your neighbors and ultimately yourself facing the unbearable choices that lay before all of at the end of life.  If you want to postpone that inward reflection, do not see this movie. 

This movie won the Best Foreign Language Film this year, and it was nominated for Best Film. So why the dire warnings up front?  you really need to be in the mood to really enjoy what this movie has to offer--which is rich and deep and absolutely worth devoting your time and energy to.  The couple are close, they have had a cultured and full life together, but when she learns that she is going to gradually slip away and there is nothing that can be done about it, she makes her husband promise he will let her die at home.   Well, that turns out to be a very tall order indeed, and it is well worth thinking about the price that one's family pays when that is the promise you extract from them.  Think twice before those words pass your lips.
You will not walk away from the movie and leave it in the theatre--you will take it home with you.