The title is french for love. The movie itself, indisputably the year's best foreign-language film and an Oscar front-runner, defines what love is. And it does it the hard way. No sex, drugs or rock & roll. Just two people offering each other total commitment. Did I mention both are in their eighties? Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) are retired music teachers living comfortably in Paris, with occasional visits from their daughter (Isabelle Huppert). Then Anne suffers two strokes. Riva, her face a study of age in agony, is magnificent. Austrian writer-director Michael Haneke achieves levels of intimacy previously unknown in his work. What happens next in his unique and unforgettable film must be left for you to discover. These two glam stars of French cinema – Riva in 1959's Hiroshima Mon Amour and Trintignant in 1966's A Man and a Woman – give performances of breathtaking power and beauty. Prepare for an emotional wipeout.

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.