Talk about a caregiver movie. This French film that opens in the U.S. next month is not an easy one to sit through, as beautifully told and brilliantly acted as it is. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, who was so memorable years ago in the romantic “A Man and a Woman,” and the gifted Emmanuelle Riva, it’s essentially a two-character story about a couple in their 80s who’ve suddenly been forced to face a medical crisis and test their love in ways they never imagined.

Music teachers who seem to have had a comfortable, cultured, happily married life together, she suffers a debilitating stroke that leaves her dependent on him. He has promised he will take care of her in their apartment, as opposed to hospitalizing her, and he does everything – I mean everything – he can to fulfill that promise.

The movie is heartbreaking and inspiring simultaneously. And it provokes debate. We saw it with friends, and immediately after the credits rolled the four of us launched into a discussion of living wills and pulling the plug and all sorts of ghoulish-but-necessary subjects people have to grapple with. One thing we all agreed on though: after sitting through two hours of “Amour,” we were so ready for a comedy.