BY LORRAINE DUFFY MERKL Sometimes, someone else’s death can force us to, not just evaluate, but change our own lives. This is the theme of a movie and book that have both just crossed my path and reminded me of my own brush with the passing of a former love. The film is called 45 Years. It’s an indy that was in a few art houses a while back, but is now out on DVD. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay play “Kate and Geoff Mercer,” who are on the cusp of their 45th wedding anniversary, when Geoff receives a letter telling him that, after five decades, the body of his long-ago lover, Katya, was discovered in a melting glacier. Kate sees how the news affects him, and begins "to smell Katya's perfume" in every room. She wonders if for all these years she’s been a substitute for this other woman and questions whether her marriage has been a sham.
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