Anna Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Anna Blu-ray Movie Review

La Femme Red Sparrow.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 23, 2019

Some armchair psychoanalyst somewhere may have the makings of a private study of sorts with regard to Luc Besson and Anna. The noted filmmaker has had a string of less than successful films over the past several years, and he’s also relatively recently weathered a series of #metoo- esque accusations, which may all provide some telling subtext for Anna, a film which would seem to offer Besson a refuge of sorts, a “security blanket”, cinematically speaking, where Besson could revisit at least some aspects of one of his better remembered success stories, La Femme Nikita. And in fact had that 1990 smash not been made in the first place, it would have been easy for Besson to have titled this entry La Femme Anna, or perhaps женщина Анна, which is what the Google translate machine informs me is the Russian equivalent of that moniker. Anna is yet another film positing a female assassin recruited into the ranks of (in this case) two spy agencies, with an underlying psychological element being traumas suffered by the title character (portrayed by Sasha Luss). It’s all probably unavoidably reminiscent of not just La Femme Nikita, but a number of other films featuring “damaged” females working as hitwomen (Red Sparrow sprang instantly to my mind, probably because I reviewed it, but there are manifold others that could be cited). Unfortunately, whatever magic Besson brought to his “previous version” of at least some elements of this tale seems to have dissipated, leaving Anna strangely listless and unenergetic.

With tongue only slightly in cheek, it might be suggested that women had best stay away from careers in the “arts”, at least as evidenced by entries like Suspiria’s “ballet school” or this film’s emphasis on high fashion modeling. The high fashion aspect turns out to be just one of several ruses, artifices not just within the film’s own context but also in a kind of “meta” way, since Besson (who wrote as well as directed) offers ping ponging timeframes which seek to elucidate “the rest of the story”. Anna is first seen as a somewhat distracted saleswoman at a booth in an open air market, where a talent scout immediately pronounces her the obvious “next big thing” in modeling, whisking her away to Paris for an unlikely new career as a fashion icon. That turns out to be a bit of misdirection, both in terms of what actually happens once Anna does begin modeling, but also in terms of what Anna has already been through, a revelation disclosed courtesy of one of Besson’s frequent trips down memory lane (so to speak).

Besson actually travels down memory lane in more ways than one, and there are at least a couple of moments in Anna that seem almost shockingly like similar moments in La Femme Nikita. That said, there’s an artificiality to a lot of this enterprise that was completely missing in the grittier early film. Even parts of the set up here, notably Anna’s introduction to the world of modeling, play in an overly mannered way that tends to make all the violence that soon ensues seem equally fake, and therefore perhaps not supportive of the underlying emphasis on Anna’s psychological traumas.

Whatever supposed tension energizing the film comes from a niggling question of whose side Anna is on, as she becomes a pawn of sorts between Russian and American influences. Besson attempts to peel back the layers of a figurative onion here (or to use a metaphor employed within the film itself, "unnests" Russian nesting dolls), repeatedly jumping to and fro in the timeline to ostensibly give context to what Anna is and has been going through, but everything ends up coming off as a kind of inchoate muddle, rather than a well reasoned refraction of various moments in a troubled and troubling life.

Luss is appealing in the title role and is certainly an eyeful, but the film’s performance kudos probably belong mostly to Helen Mirren, who chews through the scenery with appropriate gusto as a Russian “handler” named Olga. In fact, it’s the relationship between Anna and Olga that ends up giving this film some of its best material, and Besson might have been better served to have really concentrated on those interchanges rather than a lot of the sidebar material he spends considerable time with here.

Anna Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Anna is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I haven't been able to track down any authoritative technical data on the shoot, but frequent Besson collaborator cinematographer Theirry Arbogast has used Arri Alexas on previous films with Besson, for what that's worth, and I'm assuming this was finished at a 2K DI (as always with my reviews, if anyone can point me to verifiable information, I'll happily update the review). This is a rather striking film on its own merits, though some Besson fans may find it at least relatively tame looking when compared to some of his earlier works. Detail levels are quite engaging throughout the presentation, and Besson and Arbogast like to feature close-ups quite a bit of the time, something that helps to elevate fine detail levels on everything from facial pores to textures of fabrics on costumes and furniture. There is both unusual lighting and some grading employed, with some moments, notably a flashback to Anna's life as a drug addled abused woman, where a yellowish tint can make things look slightly murky. On the whole, though, the palette pops extremely vividly and even "dowdier" elements like the browns in Olga's outfits look nicely saturated.

Anna Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Anna features a generally immersive Dolby Atmos track, one that expectedly kicks into high gear during some of the action set pieces, where a glut of well positioned sound effects surrounds the listener with everything from gunshots to crunching bones. Ambient environmental sounds provide near constant activity in many of the frequent outdoor scenes. Eric Serra's nice sounding score also resides winningly in the surround channels and helps to establish momentum in several key sequences. Dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly throughout the track. This may not be the "showiest" Atmos track I've personally reviewed, at least in terms of "over the top" (figuratively and literally) activity, but it provides a consistent array of discrete channelization and an enveloping sense of almost subliminal menace some of the time.

Anna Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Dressing a Doll: The Costumes of Anna (1080p; 8:06) focuses on how costume designer Olivier Bériot sought to offer insights into characters with his creations.


• Anatomy of a Scene: The Restaurant Fight (1080p; 6:41) is an enjoyable breakdown of a scene which fans of La Femme Nikita may find at least a little familiar feeling.


• Unnesting a Russian Doll: Making Anna (1080p; 13:57) is the usual amalgamation of brief interviews, behind the scenes snippets and scenes from the film.


• Constructing the Car Chase (1080p; 5:40) features stunt coordinator David Julienne.

Anna Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My hunch is you haven't seen any of the many previous films featuring female assassins, not necessarily limited to La Femme Nikita, you may find Anna considerably more engaging than those who have seen at least some of those previous journeys down many of the same plot points. Besson manages to craft a generally brisk entertainment here, and there are at least a couple of very well staged set pieces, but a lot of this film has a kind of tired, rehashed quality that keeps it from totally hitting its perceived bullseye. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.