Character Take : Hannah in Tyrannosaur (2011)
Actor: Olivia Colman.
Character: Hannah
Movie: Tyrannosaur (2011)
Before the world woke up to recognise the brilliance of Olivia Colman in her Academy Award winning performance in The Favourite (2018), she had been part of an independent film by the name of Tyrannosaur (2011). In Paddy Considine’s debut feature film about rage and redemption, she played Hannah, a submissive charity shop worker- a sharp contrast with her deliriously vain Queen Anne- and shot it out of the park.
Her portrayal of Hannah, as she experiences brutal, ungodly acts of humiliation by her abusive husband, James (Eddie Marsan)- is at times unbearable to watch. But Colman rises above these definitions of violence and abuse, and infuses Hannah with blistering hope and innocence. It’s a devastating performance that deservedly won her the breakout acting award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Paired opposite Peter Mullan as Joseph, a fellow damaged soul who is himself a widower and a menace, we meet Hannah first at her charity shop when Joe seeks a momentary refuge there. Hannah offers to help the stranger by praying for him, only to be berated back for her moralistic approach that reflects a cosy, sheltered existence. Hannah is visibly shaken, and tears up silently. Joseph’s initial repulsion gradually gives away due to Hannah’s kindness and a gradual friendship develops, that helps Joseph towards a better understanding of himself. But in this process, Hannah’s life begins to fall apart.
Through the rest of the film, Hannah’s facade of faith and kindness wears away as she’s been cursed at, hit, utinated on, and raped by her husband. Colman firmly holds onto Hannah as she undergoes a transformation, all internal, from negotiating her faith and ignoring her endurance to a taking complete agency of her own life. There are certain sequences where she acts unexpectedly, in a sense that Hannah is never predictable, even though her routinal abuse stretches on and on. It all consummates in one climactic scene when Joseph confronts her- and Colman lets herself go.
Her eyes welling up with tears — she drops to the floor in complete and utter defeat. Her trembling hands clenched together, she looks at Joseph with her kind, bruised face, and says, “Will you hold me, please?” If one leaves aside the dialogues in this specific scene (where her character opens up about the years of trauma and pain) and takes note of how Colman shifts her position in the frame- it is nothing short of a full-bodied play of a breakdown. Her shoulders tightly held near her ears, and her hands constantly shaking and touching her face- every little detail is masterfully acted. Colman emotes through her physicality in juxtaposition to her emotional intelligence to achieve a moment of complete emotional catharsis, frightfully reminiscent of Sean Penn’s breakdown in his Oscar winning performance in Mystic River (2003). Her character vanishes from the screen after this scene, only to return at the very last shot, and by this time, the audience is at the same standpoint as her.
Since Tyrannosaur, Colman has given us many wonderful performances, without striking a single false note. She was brilliant in The Favourite and at her restrained best in the third season of The Crown- performances that raised her to stardom and worldwide recognition. And yet, hiding behind the glitter of these royalties is her bruised Hannah, a performance that can inarguably be termed as her very best work till date.
Copyright ©2020 AlternateTake. This article should not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL instead, would be appreciated.
