Her opposite number Dirk Bogarde once described it as “The Look”: the mysterious, cat-like gaze of actress Charlotte Rampling’s grey-green eyes; deep wells of emotion and grief. Rampling was 71 when she made Hannah and her gaze may well be deeper than ever.
Hannah’s world collapses in slow motion when her husband is imprisoned. Denying us and Hannah information, filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro puts us in her shoes – she refuses to face the facts. Pallaoro captures her life, precariously balanced between reality and denial, in carefully composed shots.
The filmmaker described this work as an ‘existential Giallo’ – a type of Italian thriller. The tension lies not in what happened, but in what this elicits in Hannah’s mind; restrained behind Rampling’s eyes. Only during her acting lessons can Hannah tentatively express what lies hidden there.
Film details
Countries of production
Belgium, France, Italy
Year
2017
Festival edition
IFFR 2018
Length
95'
Medium/Format
DCP
Language
French
Premiere status
None
Director
Andrea Pallaoro
Producer
John Engel, Clément Duboin, Andrea Stucovitz
Screenplay
Andrea Pallaoro, Orlando Tirado
Sound design
Guilhem Donzel
Music
Michelino Bisceglia
Production company
Partner Media Investment, Left Field Ventures, Good Fortune Films
Sales / World rights holder
TF1 Studio
Distributor NL / Benelux rights holder
Imagine Filmdistributie Nederland
Cinematography
Chayse Irvin
Editing
Paola Freddi
Production design
Marianna Sciveres
Principal cast
Charlotte Rampling, André Wilms, Stéphanie Van Vyve, Simon Bisschop, Jean-Michel Balthazar, Fatou Traoré