A brigade of firemen break down the door of an apartment in
Paris to find the corpse of Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) lying on a bed, adorned with
cut flowers.
Several months earlier, Anne and her husband Georges
(Jean-Louis Trintignant), both retired piano teachers in their eighties, attend
a performance by one of Anne's former pupils. The next morning while they are
eating breakfast, Anne silently suffers a stroke. She sits in a catatonic
state, not responding to Georges. She comes around as Georges is about to get
help, but doesn't remember anything that took place. Georges thinks she was
playing a prank on him. Anne is unable to pour herself a drink.
Anne undergoes surgery on a blocked carotid artery, but the
surgery goes wrong, leaving her paralyzed on her right side and confined to a wheelchair.
She makes Georges promise not to send her back to the hospital or into a
nursing home. Georges becomes Anne's dutiful, though slightly irritated,
caretaker. One day, Anne tells Georges that she doesn't want to go on living.
The pupil whose performance they attended stops by and Anne
gets dressed up and carries on a lively conversation during the visit, giving
Georges hope that her condition was temporary. However, she soon suffers a
second stroke that leaves her demented and incapable of coherent speech.
Georges continues to look after Anne, despite the strain it puts on him.
Georges begins employing a nurse three days a week. Their
daughter, Eva (Isabelle Huppert), wants her mother to go into care, but Georges
says he will not break the promise he made to his wife. He employs a second
nurse, but fires her after he discovers she is mistreating his wife.
One day, Georges sits next to Anne's bedside and tells her a
story of his childhood, which calms her. As he reaches the story's conclusion,
he picks up a pillow and smothers her.
Georges returns home with bundles of flowers in his hands,
which he proceeds to wash and cut. He picks out a dress from Anne's wardrobe
and writes a long letter. He tapes the bedroom door shut and catches a pigeon
which has flown in from the window. In the letter, Georges explains that he has
released the pigeon. Georges imagines that Anne is washing dishes in the
kitchen and, speechless, he gazes at her as she cleans up and prepares to leave
the house. Anne calls for Georges to bring a coat, and he complies, following
her out the door.
The film concludes with a continuation of the opening scene,
with Eva seated in the living room, after she has wandered around the now-empty
home.
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