Director: Barnaby Southcombe
Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Gabriel Byrne, Hayley Atwell, Eddie Marsan
Running time: 93 min
Certificate: 15
Extras: None
Starring Charlotte Rampling as the eponymous femme fatale, and directed by her son Barnaby Southcombe (even were this eye-gougingly terrible, he’d have to get a couple of stars on the name alone), I, ANNA is a slick noir-thriller set in urban London. Anna, a graceful but sad-eyed grandmother who’s a regular at high-end speed-dating nights, gets mixed up in a murder case when one of her night-time pals ends up spliced and diced in a pool of his own blood. D.C.I. Bernie Reid (Gabriel Byrne) is on the case, but gets sidetracked by Anna’s allure and crosses a few procedural boundaries.
Rampling is a fine choice for Anna, whilst Gabriel Byrne’s kind-hearted detective is half-drawn and something of a non-event despite having the makings of an interesting character. Their relationship should develop much further, but suffers like the rest of the film in showing glimmers of interest but never quite maintaining it.
Urban London is a great setting for a thriller, and the Barbican centre is shot beautifully. The sharp-angled, monochrome urban jungle with clinical artificial lighting is offset beautifully by Rampling’s demure good looks and dark red lipstick, and Richard Hawley’s downbeat soundtrack. The film’s most interesting angle is Southcombe’s decision to mine an under-explored subject, the older single woman. Exploring the theme of loneliness the story transmits from the femme fatale’s perspective giving it an extra edge. However it is lacking a script as sharp as it’s cinematography, along with some pace to inject to the adequate atmosphere. Although the finally is believable and satisfying it is also unsurprising as Southcombe seems to lose confidence in both his own expertise and his audience’s intelligence as he reveals and explains the entire film in a wholly straightforward and uninspired fashion.
I, ANNA’s a case of almost made it – not taut enough for a gripping whodunit, and not affecting enough for a psychological drama – it does at least show promise for Southcombe’s future work.
I, ANNA is released on DVD via Artificial Eye on April 8th
