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Anna M.
2007 Drama / Thriller / Romance
 Review
For his third full-length film in just over a decade, director Michel
Spinosa immerses us in the harrowing world of a vulnerable young woman
who succumbs to an attack of erotomania, a rare condition in which the
subject wrongly imagines him or herself to be loved by another and
develops an extreme fantasy obsession. In contrast to
Spinosa’s previous two lightweight offerings – Emmène-moi (1994) and La Parenthèse enchantée
(2000), Anna M. is a thoroughly absorbing mix of drama and thriller
that vividly conveys the trauma and misery of those who get caught up
in this nightmarish derangement. The poet William Congreve was
perhaps understating the case when he observed that Hell hath no fury
like a woman scorned. Both the title and subject of Anna M. instantly call to mind François Truffaut’s L’Histoire d’Adèle H. (1975), which tells a very similar story, but in a historical setting which creates a distance between the tragic heroine and the spectator. By contrast, Spinosa’s film is set in a world that we can all relate to, hence its impact is somewhat greater. The film’s extraordinary power lies in Isabelle Carré’s devastatingly realistic performance, which gives a stark visceral edge to the drama and makes the character she portrays both sympathetic and terrifying, often in the same shot. With a surprising mastery of his art, Michel Spinosa delivers a film that is both utterly compelling and deeply disturbing, a reminder that the same passion which can inspire the noblest and most beautiful of human sentiments can also have a monstrously ugly side. © filmsdefrance.com 2009 Write a review for this film...User Comments
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Director:
Michel Spinosa
Starring: Isabelle Carré, Gilbert Melki , Anne Consigny, Geneviève Mnich, Gaëlle Bona Synopsis
Anna M. is an unassuming young woman who lives with her mother and
spends her days carefully restoring manuscripts for the
Bibliothèque de France. Paris is full of women like
her – anonymous, inoffensive spinsters who live a simple life without
ambition or incident. But, one day, her life takes a dramatic
change for the worse. On a mad impulse, she throws herself in
front of a car. When she regains consciousness, she is in
hospital, attentively cared for by Dr Zanevsky. Anna mistakes the
doctor’s professional attention for affection and imagines that he is
in love with her. In truth, Zanevsky, a married man, has no interest in her other
than as a patient in his care. Anna’s childish fancy soon turns into a dark
obsession when her intrusions into Zanevsky’s life become increasingly
insistent and threatening...
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 More French Drama |
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© filmsdefrance.com 2009