Charlotte Rampling Paints a Striking Portrait of an Isolated Woman in ‘Hannah’

Sandra Miska

Two years after she received her first Oscar nomination or her role as an emotionally wounded wife in “45 Years,” following an impressive career spanning 50 years, British actress Charlotte Rampling once again finds herself in a mature marriage in director Andrea Pallaoro’s “Hannah.” This time around, she has to navigate her pain all by herself. This slice-of-life drama features Rampling as the title character, a Belgian woman who finds herself dealing with increasing isolation following the incarceration of her husband (André Wilms). No specifics are given about the circumstances surrounding this elderly man’s conviction, but clues are revealed as the story slowly unravels, along with Hannah’s world. But this is not a true crime story; it is a striking portrait of a woman dealing with despair and loneliness.

Hannah copes with her husband’s being away at first by going about a regular routine, one that includes exercise and an acting class, both of which serve as outlets for what she’s going through. The latter is especially important, because it not only allows the usually restrained Hannah to express emotion, it also brings into her life some much-needed social interaction. During the years in which one is normally joyously surrounded by a growing family, this mother and grandmother finds herself estranged from her loved ones. From what we gather, her husband’s crime was of a sinister nature, and her standing by him led to her ostracization. The viewer first gets a real inkling of the reality of her situation when an unseen woman starts banging on Hannah’s apartment door, pleading to speak “mother to mother” about her (the mystery woman’s) traumatized young son. With barely any movement, Rampling makes Hannah’s fear and shame palpable.

When her gym revokes her membership, Hannah manages to remain receive the news with relative stoicism, but this is not the case when she is banished from the birthday celebration of her grandson, Charlie (Gaspard Savini), by her own son, Michiel (Julien Vargas). After this episode, she stops into a restroom and lets out some guttural sobs, unable to contain her emotions until she returns home. This is a truly heart wrenching scene, and the camera doesn’t shy away, hitting the viewer hard with pathos.

Hannah finds refuge from the storm that is her life at her job as a housekeeper, surprisingly. Her appreciative employer, Elaine (Stephanie Van Vyve), a young mother, treats her with respect, and Elaine’s little boy, Nicholas (Simon Bisschop), looks to her as a grandmother. The relationship between Hannah and Nicholas results in some truly tender moments, and with Rampling giving such a feeling performance, one’s heart breaks for her, as it is evident that Hannah is longing for her own grandson, or perhaps even a more innocent time when her son was a little boy.

Under Pallaoro’s impressive direction, Rampling gives a truly nuanced performance here, as she conveys a wide range of emotions using few words, especially in the film’s climax. Here, she is forced to make a decision when it comes to her husband, her pain and feelings of betrayal and confliction coming through with such subtleness.

“Hannah” opens Feb. 23 in Chicago, March 9 in Los Angeles and New York.