“Amour,” the much-lauded film by Austrian director Michael Haneke, comes to the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center this week, as well as a Sunday Reel Food event featuring the classic “Casablanca.” Also playing is the New Orleans-based documentary, “Tchoupitoulas,” and an animated film, “The Rabbi’s Cat.”
“Amour,” which has five Oscar nominations, stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as Georges, and Emmanuelle Riva as Anne, a devoted couple in their 80s who must cope with illness and death. Isabelle Huppert plays their daughter, Eva, a musician.
All three actors are top French performers, with Mr. Trintignant lionized for his role in “A Man and a Woman” (1959) and Ms. Riva for hers in “Hiroshima, Mon Amour” (1966).
Also a Palme d’Or winner at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, “Amour” places George and Anne, who have been piano teachers, in the audience at a virtuoso performance by one of Anne’s former students. In another crucial opening scene, firemen break down the door to their Paris apartment. Illness and the caregiving it necessitates by a loved one lie at the center of “Amour.” They can occur at any stage of life and give the movie a universal theme.
In honor of the Valentine’s Day weekend, the Humphrey Bogart classic, “Casablanca,” will screen on Sunday at the Film Center as a Reel Food event. A Moroccan-style feast follows at Lucky Hank’s restaurant in Edgartown. The $35 prix fixe dinner begins at 6 pm, by reservation only. Moviegoers can opt for “Casablanca” without dinner.
Also part of the Film Center’s line-up is the documentary “Tchoupitoulas,” in which three teenaged brothers celebrate a night on the town in New Orleans.
“The Rabbi’s Cat,” based on a graphic novel by Joann Sfar, tells the comic story of a rabbi and his talking feline.
The Oscar-winner “Divorce Italian Style” plays on Wednesday Classic Film Night.
All films at shown at the M.V. Film Center, Tisbury Marketplace, Vineyard Haven. $10; $7 for M.V. Film Society members. For more information on films and Reel Food dinner menu, see mvfilmsociety.com.
