Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Crappy film

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

AT the end I wish Bernie had just let Anna jump or better yet pushed her off the ledge. Caught this on Netflix in 2017. I THINK that the daughter and the grand-kid were BOTH imaginary - hence the baby sleeping sign was always on the door. Why was Anna phoning her own apartment from a phone booth? And what's with the old-fashioned touch phone in 2015? Where did the itchy cast on her broken arm come from - did she get it from killing the match.com date? London is photographed like NYC (Gotham) in a Batman movie and I half expected to see the Caped Crusader and Catwoman appear. This is a plot? HE'S a newly divorced cop (DCI Bernie Kominski - a Brit police chief with a Borsch Belt name and demeanor) who stumbles around like he's taken far too many of those Ambien pills he's seen swallowing. SHE'S a lonely, sixtyish woman who works selling mattresses in a department store and hallucinates she's living w/her (non-existent?) daughter and dead grand-kid. She does in-person speed-dating and during the process runs into a rough-trade character. During a sex hook-up with the dude she kills him in self-defense and can't remember the killing happened, much less that she did the deed herself. OY VEY Bernie! She ALSO doesn't remember that while day-dreaming during a babysitting stint she got forgetful (again) and let her grand-kid run off and get killed by a car. So she goes to the park and pushes an empty swing. Bernie gets to investigate the gory murder and despite his attraction to Anna, comes to suspect her and when he comes in for the arrest, she steps out onto the edge of the high-rise and threatens to jump. He pulls Anna (now the love of his heart) back. End of film....

There are so many strands that make up the story, and very little to connect them together. But it is well worth watching a second (or more) time just to get the whole picture (!)Charlotte Rampling is so good, so convincing as the middle-aged woman, now separated and living with a daughter and grandchild. But there is a past incident, very important to what else is happening, briefly referred to a couple of times that isn't really explained - perhaps a tragedy involving another child? Every now and then, there is a flashback with Anna now wearing a bright red dress. That's a signal to us to change our focus and concentrate and try to join the scenes together.Gabriel Byrne is the cop who becomes attracted (no surprise there!) to Anna. A very good performance.

Passably interesting drama concerning a woman, Anna (Charlotte Rampling), attempting to find another partner - she frequents singles gatherings - and a detective, Bernie (Gabriel Byrne), coming off a marriage separation, who pass each other at a ground-floor, elevator door of an apartment building in which a man has been battered to death overnight in one of the lodgings. Bernie finds an umbrella, in the elevator, which Anna forgot about as she walked away. Instead of returning the item, Bernie, later on, traces her car license, establishes her address and sets about meeting her again - at one of those singles gatherings. All this while he's investigating - actually, getting his number two, Kevin (the always-terrific Eddie Marsan), to carry the load - said gruesome murder. A sub-plot about a teenager needing money to pay back dealers muddies the waters, so to speak, implicating him as a suspect in the murder of the man - who happens to be his father; and who is, incidentally, a most unpleasant character.As the main plot unfolds, we see - in flashback - what Anna did at her previous singles thingy, the night before; which also begins to suggest she might be involved with the murder. But, how? Well, that's what Bernie frantically tries to find out. And which I'll leave you to enjoy at your leisure. The denouement, however, will give you pause to think about just how well you know - or ever can know - another person.Rampling always performs well in heavy dramas; in this, she does better than other roles she's had. Byrne, over the years, just seems to get parts that meld perfectly with his laid back - some might call it lazy - style of acting. Indeed, Bernie appears to be almost sleep-walking much of the time. The stand-out, though, in this offering is Eddie Marsan who, unfortunately, is not used enough; always a pleasure to watch his performance. The rest of the cast is uniformly good. As for the movie's director of this well-constructed movie, it's more than interesting to note that Barnaby Southcombe is actually Rampling's son. Nothing like keeping things in the family, I guess....If ten is top prize, this gets five.July 26, 2015.

Enjoyed this film. Thought it had an interesting take on London, showing us a different city to the one often seen in films. The stylised way it was shot might be too much for some people but I really liked it and felt it gave the film a great atmosphere. London looked wonderful. Add to that some subtle and nuanced performances, particularly from Charlotte Rampling who really carries it. She was superb. There are some weaknesses and it won't be a film that appeals to everyone but if you do fancy watching something that requires you to think, is atmospheric, beautifully filmed and acted then I, Anna is worth watching.