Hannah

Twenty minutes into the movie I realized that I didn't know where it was going and that it gave me not enough clues to be ever figured out. But I kept on watching Rampling. Enjoying every moment of it.

Is it too much to ask for a plot?

Hannah for me was a slow burn descent of one person's life in denial. Shot beautifully and conveys a lot of raw emotion with its stoic acting by Charlotte Rampling.

I personally felt this was a well shot film with some fantastic cinematography.

Despite an excellent central performance from Rampling this film is not easy and is not engaging. It is tedious.

The story and its telling recalls Antonioni, think of: Il Grido, il Deserto Rosso, L'Avventura and La Notte, with characters who barely intersect, let alone have any connection to each other, solitary, desperate, fearful, they stumble about the world, tiny and wretched. And that is exactly what 'Hannah' replicates.

Yet with Antonioni the films had a trajectory about a social and personal gulf which 'Hannah' doesn't', Hannah simply records the mundane as the mundane and even with a veteran in Rampling to give the merest levels of drama, it still falls short.

In a film the dramatic premise is necessary, such a narrative as 'Hannah' simulates are possible in prose, they work very well on the page, but in a film the internal represented as physical space is insufficient. It's only observation.

In some respects 'Hannah' is like a reality show, but whereas those shows tease the audience with sexual anticipation, Hannah ruthlessly records the anxiety of a lonely, miserable, woman.

I really liked this movie, however, WHY was her husband put in jail?

I know silly question, have to know...

A very subtle, evocative independent film, with an existential atmosphere recalling Ingmar Bergman's works.

It's a quiet, serene picture of beautifully composed scenes, creating an ambience of seclusion and isolation. We experience the lonely life of a woman who has been rejected by everyone in her life, except her only outlet, a theater group she is involved with.

Some, inexperienced with artistic films, may not appreciate its somber nature. And it's definitely not for those expecting a complete narrative. The film is one big question mark of what happened to her, left up to the viewer's interpretation.

Hannah is an homage to Charlotte Rampling, who should have received more nominations for this performance, and who I hope will receive an achievement award for her career.