bursell-17470 I wish I could, somehow, regain the 93 minutes I wasted in watching this film ... a film I had hoped would "come together." Even some basic explanations would have helped along the way ... e.g., how did she hurt her arm? who "magically" put a cast on it? In terms of production, as noted by another reviewer, I was shocked to see the large fake beach scene (a theater prop) accompanied by the sounds of waves and birds. But ... totally stationary. Any "willing suspension of disbelief" was totally blown away. This level of production was, IMHO, beneath the calibre of some of the major stars. Not asking to be spoon fed along the way ... just a little sense of continuity and credibility. What a disappointment.

st-shot Love seems to be blinding in this tepid suspense film featuring the world weary presence of Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel Byrne operating with distracted lonely hearts. While they may have an excuse director Barnaby Southcombe has none as his smoke and mirror distractions to deny the stretched out obvious story line along with a poorly edited far fetched finale that smacks of modern day DW Griffith, the dating disastrous. .Anna Welles (Rampling) readies herself for another round of a singles get together. Divorced and in her 50s she meets George and goes back to his apartment with him. He's later found dead. Detective Bernie Reid (Byrne)runs into her the next day near the scene retrieving an umbrella and again at the dating session where she does not recall meeting him (Hmmmm?). Director Southcombe direction is ambitious but with weak material as it offers up a couple of drab alibis in a surly pair of marginals that are clearly a long shot as we begin to piece together the unstable psyche of Anna. Seasoned investigator Reid should clearly know better but remains clueless and goes rogue over a woman he only thinks he knows after a few meetings. In addition to the murder Southcombe makes a statement about aging and the demeaning speed dating game as well as make victim George a justifiable homicide. Another tragedy precedes as well to cloud matters but compelling as it is it adds little to the mystery and the fact Anna is one forgetful lady that might be forgiven for a lot of things.Rampling understated look and sound of indifference usually controls the mood of most of her films. Here she is wasted, her performance for the most part catatonic. Byrne's histrionics at the end wake up a dull performance best left sleeping, while Eddie Marsan's cop associate could use some sedation. Perhaps the film's finest moment and performance is the cameo of Honor Blackman as Joan putting on her game face in a ladies room and pointedly summing up the way it is.

blanche-2 Charlotte Rampling stars in I, Anna from 2012, directed by her son Barnaby Southcombe, who also wrote the screenplay.It's the rather disjointed, noir-ish story of a woman, Anna (Rampling) and her relationship with a police detective Bernie Reid (Gabriel Byrne) who is searching for a killer. He becomes obsessed with Anna, who is attractive, sexy, divorced, with a daughter and granddaughter.Charlotte Rampling has always been a unique actress. She's kind of a modern-day Lauren Bacall, androgynous, a wonderful actress who has allowed herself to age like a normal human being. Here she shows her sexuality and her beauty as the audience learns more and more about her.The film skips around a lot and can be confusing at times. There is also a character, a young guy, who has no reason to be in the movie at all. Not only is his subplot not developed, we never find out how it ends.Actually we don't find out how anything ends in this film. We think that someone is going to explain everything that went on but they don't. If the photography is strange, it's also beautifully done. There's no question that Barnaby Southcombe has talent; it just needs to be developed a little more. With a better script and with all the fine actors in the film, this could have been a knockout.

boogschutter-791-366316 I didn't like it at all, I kept unmoved and bored. And, after reading the fact that the film director was Rampling's son, I understood everything... Awfully bad directed. Not even an actor of the calibre of Mr Byrne can save this movie from being a bad version of a film noir. Sorry for Ms Rampling but even her was not convincing at all. I also spotted a scene at a beach where the sea was just a theatre set! That was really bad. There was a static view of the sea just behind the figure of Ms Rampling. I was so distracted by this fact that I had to rewind a little to see if I lost anything from the plot. Won't recommend it.