Hannah

An elderly woman finds her life disintegrating after her husband is sent to prison in this intimate drama. As a French-language affair, shot in Belgium by an Italian film-maker and starring British veteran Charlotte Rampling, the film's an exemplar of a certain kind of moody European art house fare. Dialogue is minimal. Instead much of the fascination is in Rampling's captivating performance, as desperation and anger build relentlessly behind her pained, mask-like expression. The skeletal plot patiently reveals how she's become a social and familial outcast because of her hubby's transgressions, while in the meantime she finds an outlet in an amateur dramatics group, and (less than convincingly) works part-time as a cleaner for a rich family. Ultimately, though, there's more suggestion than substance here, and the point of the exercise is in a sustained mood of slowly paced Euro-melancholia. It's not in the class of a Michael Haneke or Michelangelo Antonioni, but if that's what you're in the mood for, this definitely ticks the box.