David O'ConnellThe very disturbed Anna M!
May 29th 2008 04:14
This chilling, austere film from 2007 plays like a French arthouse update of Fatal Attraction……….only without the bunny boiling!
The wonderful Isabelle Carre is Anna, a woman who develops a disturbing pathological obsession with a doctor who treats her after deciding, just for kicks, to walk out and play in traffic late one night.
From the very first scene of the film it’s clear that something’s a bit off about young Anna. She works as a book restorer in the Paris National Library and collapses for some inexplicable reason – her co-worker just ignoring her – before picking herself up as if nothing has happened. It’s a peculiar opening to the film, seen from a vast distance in a beautifully-lit widescreen shot, but it’s only a precursor of things to come.
Anna lives with her mother and returning home she decides to take her dog for a late night stroll. She ties it up to a pole and precedes to calmly stroll out in front of an oncoming car to be sideswiped, which seems her intention rather than suicide. It’s the unfortunate Dr. Zanevsky (Gilbert Melki) who is next seen treating her and Anna, without the slightest sign or provocation, develops a fixation on him, convinced that he loves her and that they’re meant to be together.
Her obsession becomes increasingly disturbing or more elaborate as she follows him, ringing him up at all hours, banging at the entrance to his apartment building. It’s the typical escalation of madness we’ve seen many times before in these psychodramas with the police brought in but unable to lift a finger – after all, what has Anna really done? They think poor Dr. Zanevsky is simply trying to get a spurned lover off his back.
There are genuine moments of tension later on as Anna conveniently ends up with a job as the nanny of two young girls in the apartment above Dr. Zanevsky and his wife. After conning her way in with the help of a gullible locksmith she defiles their home which is the final straw.
The next scene sees Anna’s mother committing her to a mental institution – not, it’s hinted at, for the first time either! But can there be any doubt that poor Anna, uncured but deviously convincing her therapist otherwise, will get a reprieve and be allowed back into normal society again? It’s three months later when she’s let out, having discovered she’s pregnant to a random guy, a train station attendant, who she earlier jumped on one night to release her sexual frustrations!
Two things separate Anna M. from your average Hollywood diversion of this ilk. Firstly the skill with which it’s made, especially in visual terms. Writer-director Michel Spinosa reveals himself as a superb craftsman and it has to be said his cinematographer Alain Duplantier, does amazing work here once again, as he did in the brilliant L’Annulaire (The Ring Finger) in 2005, with intricate, artfully composed set-ups for every scene, filled with perfectly balanced compositions of light and dark.
Secondly, the central performance by Isabelle Carre is exceptional. She’s totally convincing in a role that’s a polar opposite to the ones I’ve seen her in previously – like the eerie Entre ses mains (In His Hands), as a woman who begins to suspect – ironically in light of Anna M. – that a man she meets in the normal course of her work is becoming obsessed with her and may be a serial killer. Then there was her turn opposite Jose Garcia in the endearing, fluffy romantic comedy Quatre etoiles (Four Stars).
She’s a superb actress and has to carry the load of virtually every scene in Anna M. which she does with ease, adding subtle layers of complexity to a mostly unsympathetic, one-dimensional character. Many lesser actresses would have butchered this role with overacting and histrionics but Carre is never less than riveting and assured.
My favourite moment in the film comes near the end and is like something out of a terrifying horror film as Anna’s deteriorating mental state, and inability to deal consciously with rejection, reaches a breaking point and a disturbing hallucinatory scene follows as she lays in a hotel bed with only the baby inside her.
It's the standout cinematic moment in an enjoyable diversion of a film which proves once again that the subtlety of a more refined European approach, to what is usually stock Hollywood fodder, is nearly always preferable.
The wonderful Isabelle Carre is Anna, a woman who develops a disturbing pathological obsession with a doctor who treats her after deciding, just for kicks, to walk out and play in traffic late one night.
From the very first scene of the film it’s clear that something’s a bit off about young Anna. She works as a book restorer in the Paris National Library and collapses for some inexplicable reason – her co-worker just ignoring her – before picking herself up as if nothing has happened. It’s a peculiar opening to the film, seen from a vast distance in a beautifully-lit widescreen shot, but it’s only a precursor of things to come.
Anna lives with her mother and returning home she decides to take her dog for a late night stroll. She ties it up to a pole and precedes to calmly stroll out in front of an oncoming car to be sideswiped, which seems her intention rather than suicide. It’s the unfortunate Dr. Zanevsky (Gilbert Melki) who is next seen treating her and Anna, without the slightest sign or provocation, develops a fixation on him, convinced that he loves her and that they’re meant to be together.
Her obsession becomes increasingly disturbing or more elaborate as she follows him, ringing him up at all hours, banging at the entrance to his apartment building. It’s the typical escalation of madness we’ve seen many times before in these psychodramas with the police brought in but unable to lift a finger – after all, what has Anna really done? They think poor Dr. Zanevsky is simply trying to get a spurned lover off his back.
There are genuine moments of tension later on as Anna conveniently ends up with a job as the nanny of two young girls in the apartment above Dr. Zanevsky and his wife. After conning her way in with the help of a gullible locksmith she defiles their home which is the final straw.
The next scene sees Anna’s mother committing her to a mental institution – not, it’s hinted at, for the first time either! But can there be any doubt that poor Anna, uncured but deviously convincing her therapist otherwise, will get a reprieve and be allowed back into normal society again? It’s three months later when she’s let out, having discovered she’s pregnant to a random guy, a train station attendant, who she earlier jumped on one night to release her sexual frustrations!
Two things separate Anna M. from your average Hollywood diversion of this ilk. Firstly the skill with which it’s made, especially in visual terms. Writer-director Michel Spinosa reveals himself as a superb craftsman and it has to be said his cinematographer Alain Duplantier, does amazing work here once again, as he did in the brilliant L’Annulaire (The Ring Finger) in 2005, with intricate, artfully composed set-ups for every scene, filled with perfectly balanced compositions of light and dark.
Secondly, the central performance by Isabelle Carre is exceptional. She’s totally convincing in a role that’s a polar opposite to the ones I’ve seen her in previously – like the eerie Entre ses mains (In His Hands), as a woman who begins to suspect – ironically in light of Anna M. – that a man she meets in the normal course of her work is becoming obsessed with her and may be a serial killer. Then there was her turn opposite Jose Garcia in the endearing, fluffy romantic comedy Quatre etoiles (Four Stars).
She’s a superb actress and has to carry the load of virtually every scene in Anna M. which she does with ease, adding subtle layers of complexity to a mostly unsympathetic, one-dimensional character. Many lesser actresses would have butchered this role with overacting and histrionics but Carre is never less than riveting and assured.
Anna cons Dr. Zanevsky into one harmless photo to remember him by!
My favourite moment in the film comes near the end and is like something out of a terrifying horror film as Anna’s deteriorating mental state, and inability to deal consciously with rejection, reaches a breaking point and a disturbing hallucinatory scene follows as she lays in a hotel bed with only the baby inside her.
It's the standout cinematic moment in an enjoyable diversion of a film which proves once again that the subtlety of a more refined European approach, to what is usually stock Hollywood fodder, is nearly always preferable.
Let the kinky defilement by ink commence!!
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Comment by Anonymous
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
And yes mate, do check this film out, it was playing in town recently at the French Film festival and has now started screening on World Movies on Foxtel, it's definitely worth a look.
Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by Anonymous
I think in all great roles the actor has to have a 'feel' for the character they're playing and for me Isabelle Carre doesn't pull it off convincingly........good but not great.
Steve
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Steve, you never cease to amaze me with the strangeness of your perception of films. She inhabits this role with total conviction as far as I'm concerned.
Did you like the scene in the hotel bed at the end? Maybe you were asleep by then and missed that bit!!? (;