91热爆

Hell hath no fury like a stalker scorned in Michel Spinosa's nervy film, which uses the medical facts of erotomania to generate a charge of gloomy suspense. Anna M (Isabelle Carre) is a lonely book binder who forms a delusional attachment to the dashing Doctor Zanefsky (Gilbert Melki), misreading their innocent doctor-patient exchanges as declarations of undying love. Her obsession eventually drives Anna to violent extremes, with grim consequences for all.

Erotic obsession - particularly female erotic obsession - is a an old favourite in Hollywood, but Spinosa's film takes a more clinical approach to the subject than the Fatal Attractions and Single White Females of yore. From the title, which recalls Doctor Freud's casebook, to the chapter headings that announce each stage of Anna's illness, it's clear that Anna M is intended as a dissection rather than a freakshow.

"A BRITTLE FACADE OF SANITY"

Isabelle Carre rises to the challenge and brilliantly inhabits Anna's brittle facade of sanity, even if the camera seems at times more interested in her nipples than her internal struggle. Melki is convincingly frustrated as the object of her unwanted attention, and the film is artfully composed and occasionally frightening. Still, there are some niggles. For a film that presents itself as a case-study, Anna M has no trouble in chucking plausibility out of the window at will - would she really get a job as a nanny with that loony smile and no references? - and suffers from a mystifying and highly unsatisfactory ending.

Anna M. is out in the UK on 16th November 2007.