The Rules, Not the Labor, May Kill Their Plans "Still Mine," like Michael Haneke's "Amour" and Sarah Polley's "Away From Her," is an old-age love story told with minimal sentimentality. If "Amour," with its unflinching vision of dementia, is the toughest of the three, and "Away From Her" is the saddest, "Still Mine," directed and written by Michael McGowan, has a similar spiky integrity. Dry-eyed and observant, it refuses to pity Craig and Irene Morrison (James Cromwell and Geneviève Bujold), the aged couple at its center. "I'm just worried that our luck is beginning to run out," frets Craig, a proud, eagle-eyed geezer, after discovering that Irene, in a mental lapse, has fallen down the stairs. "I don't think so," she replies cheerfully. By all rights, I should have broken my hip. The Morrisons, in their late 80s, are the heart and soul of this small, sturdy film with great North Atlantic scenery. Living outside the village of St. Martins in New Brunswick, Canada, they are keenly aware that after spending 61 years together and raising seven children, their time is running out. Craig's short-term solution to their problems is to build a smaller home on their 2,000 acres. Two of their children (Rick Roberts and Julie Stewart), who warily keep tabs on them, offer to help. But Craig, who is descended from a long line of shipbuilders, insists on doing it alone, even after his best friend warns that no one over 70 should get on a ladder. The children know better than to push their stubbornly independent parents to give up their way of life and move into a retirement home. The image of the fiercely self-reliant Craig raging against the dying of the light may verge on cliché. But Mr. Cromwell, who is more than a decade younger than his character, lends Craig a compelling depth, intelligence and resoluteness. He stands about 6-foot-7, and with a Roman nose on a head that seems chiseled out of rock, radiates an imperial authority. Ms. Bujold, alert and birdlike, imbues Irene with a starchy tenacity and a sharp sense of humor. The Morrisons are still in love. In one of the movie's most powerful moments, Irene, her eyes flashing with anticipation, asks Craig to take off his clothes. "I want to look at you, old man," she says lustily before they embrace, naked. Irene is still capable of jealousy. After reminding her husband of the one woman, long dead, who threatened to come between them, she warns him that if he ever cheats on her, she'll leave him. From his expression of absolute devotion, it is clear that will not happen. In the slender plot, Craig proceeds to build his dream house by hand, unaware, until a hard-nosed government inspector (Jonathan Potts) comes calling, that he is flouting the local building code by not submitting plans and specifications for approval. After a stop work order is imposed, and numerous building code violations are cited, Craig eloquently argues his case. But there is no fighting the rigid, unsympathetic bureaucracy. Even an articulate, sympathetic lawyer (Campbell Scott) makes no headway. The rules are the rules. Along with the possibility of imprisonment, Craig risks having the half-finished structure bulldozed. "Still Mine" doesn't carry us to the moment when the Morrisons" luck runs out. There is a respite. But the end is clearly in sight. The film's vision of a long-married couple keeping each other going with mutual love and support, and a shared resistance to outside interference, is more vital than a thousand movies populated by hot, squirming teenagers. "Still Mine" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has partial nudity. Still Mine Written and directed by Michael McGowan; director of photography, Brendan Steacy; edited by Roderick Deogrades; music by Hugh Marsh, Don Rooke and Michelle Willis; production design by Tamara Deverell; costumes by Sarah Millman; produced by Mr. McGowan, Avi Federgreen, Jody Colero and Ms. Deverell; released by Samuel Goldwyn Films. WITH: James Cromwell (Craig Morrison), Geneviève Bujold (Irene Morrison), Campbell Scott (Gary Fulton), Rick Roberts (John), Julie Stewart (Ruth), Jonathan Potts (Rick Daigle), George R. Robertson (Chester Jones), Barbara Gordon (Margaret Jones) and Zachary Bennett (Jeff Leblanc).