Hannah, written by Orlando Tirado and Andrea Pallaoro, directed by the latter

Hannah, written by Orlando Tirado and Andrea Pallaoro, directed by the latter

Hannah is heartbreaking at times, amusing, outré, thought provoking, terrifying and puzzling.

Charlotte Rampling is one of the greatest performers of our age, painful to watch given the remarkable force, truthfulness of her acting, even when for very long minutes she says nothing.

To begin with, the first moments are both strange and mirthful to some extent, as the protagonist makes some bizarre sounds, as part of an acting class – or is it a therapy program? Indeed, it could be both.

Charlotte Rampling is Hannah.

Her husband is sentenced and sent to prison – he is portrayed by the remarkable Andre Wilms – he has the leading role in the fascinating, acclaimed Le Havre.

Many scenes take place in and around the subway, where destitute, mentally ill or both people talk to themselves, sometimes shout, others sing or just beg to get some money.

At one stage, one may fear that Hannah might jump in front of the train.

Perhaps she would at one point.

Maybe after the film ends…

Watching Hannah interact with her dog – by the way, why would she give the pet away, if she does not entertain some drastic, final acts? – One might think of neo realist motion pictures.

The example that came to the mind of the under signed is Romanian made films, in which it has been remarked that when a character eats his or her soup, the audience has to spend the whole 10 or 15 minutes that takes looking at the personages as they take their meal.

Hannah has a dog that seems to be a cocker spaniel, who takes a bath; another time is just embraced by the solitary, suffering woman who cries for many minutes in what seems to be excruciating, psychological pain.

In a long scene, we watch her take the eternally present metro with a big box in her hand, arriving at the house where a child speaks a few words to her only to be told to get inside by his father.

This is Hannah’s son…that is the father of the boy.

Nonetheless, he tells her to go away, while she holds to what we now understand is a cake for a festivity, perhaps the birthday of one or another in that household.

Why did he do that?

She seems to have an idea, for she does not protest, either because she had anticipated to some extent the reaction, or maybe since she knows there was something wrong in the past…

For other long minutes, we get to watch the aged body -very wrinkled and unusually presented to the public – of the protagonist, together with other women who change in a locker room.

The heroine works as a house cleaner, but she does not seem to fit - enjoy herself is too much to speak of – anywhere, her social life appears to be nonexistent.

Although challenging, intriguing, thought provoking, unusual, meditative, sobering, this motion picture is not a film that would lighten one of your summer evenings…it might suit better a cold, dark winter night.