I, Anna Review
Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne get to take centre stage is this British drama/thriller.
We are introduced to Anna (Rampling), a lonely mother (and grandmother) who spends her time on the speed dating circuit who finds herself linked with a police investigation. Turns out her first success with dating for a while has ended up in the murder of her date. Enter Byrne’s copper who spots her leaving the scene of the crime and becomes smitten with her, to the point where he breaks police procedure in order to set up meeting her unofficially at another singles dating night where both characters use pseudonyms.
The two form an uneasy connection and the more we delve into their relationship, the more we start to learn about what has happened before through flashback.
The film starts off very well not giving too much away about what is going on; focusing more on the psychological present of both the lead characters, but the film soon loses its confidence to withhold too much information and starts to leak too much – enough to let the entirety of what is going on away long before the end of the film is reached.
This is a shame as what does transpire is engaging and beautifully played by Rampling (clearly relishing the part, which can’t be too common a thing for an actress her age in modern cinema). In fact the entire supporting cast put in sterling work. The film is working at its best as a character study, not shy to show any uncomfortable sides of characters they perhaps would not want to be made public (which is always the viewer’s privilege in a film), but fails in the editing to retain tension as all becomes way too predictable.
But it’s the characters that keep you glued in even if you have figured everything out, just to see what the outcome may be. I, Anna acts as further proof that you don’t need sexy young American’s with their tops off to drive a powerful narrative.
Steven Hurst