TYRANNOSAUR
UK, 2011, 92 minutes, Colour
Peter Mullen, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan.
Directed by Paddy Considine.
Written and directed by actor Paddy Considine, this is a most impressive piece of film-making. However, it is tough watching. It is a portrait of two damaged people, depicted with emotional and psychological intensity.
Peter Mullan is a fine serious actor (My Name is Joe, Neds). Here, as Joseph, a lonely widower in Leeds, he is the embodiment of rage, taking it out on his dog, on young Pakistanis, on friends. Many a time in the film, Paddy Considine simply focuses the camera on him as he sits, not speaking, yet communicating volumes. But, he is capable of some tender moments and apologies. He is concerned for the little boy across the street who plays by himself while his mother and her boyfriend ignore him. He goes to the bedside of his dying friend. Yet, the rage can surface. He can feel himself provoked and lashes out physically and verbally with a vicious and cutting tongue.
After being bashed at home by the Pakistani youths, he takes refuge in an op shop, hiding behind a rack of clothes. The volunteer on duty is Hannah who is only momentarily taken aback but talks to Joseph and prays for him. Hannah seems a cheery soul but she too becomes a target for Joseph’s vitriol against God and against her and what he sees as her social status. Hannah is played most movingly by Olivia Coleman (Carol Thatcher in The Iron Lady) who creates a complex and memorable character, a woman battered by her husband and by life.
Eddie Marsan plays Hannah’s erratic husband, charming on the outside, cruel, jealous and vindictive on the inside.
As the film progresses, we learn more about each of the characters, that there is far more to them than the immediate, desperate impression. There is always an appeal for compassion for Hannah – but a surprise (but, perhaps, not unsurprising) turn of events in her life. Joseph, despite the recurring rage, has many redeeming features below the surface.
If you would like to see a finely written and performed but challenging picture of human nature, not without some hope, then Tyrannosaur can be recommended. (Perhaps the title with its mix of tyrant and dinosaur is a bit too clever, especially as introduced in the film in connection with Joseph’s late wife.)
1. The title, its meaning, its tone?
2. The work of Paddy Considine as writer and director? Insight and empathy? Observation of social problems?
3. The Leeds setting, Yorkshire, ordinary, the dingy and dismal atmosphere, suburban, the streets and houses, pubs and shops? Audiences identifying with the locations? Characters? The musical score?
4. The strength of the performances? The awards?
5. Portraits of human nature, grief and anger, rage? Physical and verbal attacks? Victims? Cheery surfaces and hiding grief? Sexist abuse? Clashes between husbands and wives? Presentation of human nature with edge?
6. Peter Mullen as Joseph, the initial drinking, bashing the dog, burying the dog? His later comments about taking it out on the dog? The sequences where he just simply sat and the audience watched him? What was going on in his mind? The boy in the street, friendship, the chats with Joseph? The mother, her boyfriend and his dog? The friend at the pub, his racist comments against the Pakistanis? The Pakistanis, Joseph telling them to be quiet, their playing pool, hitting them, his regrets? His apologies? Moments of calm? The youths bashing him outside his home? His going to Hannah’s shop, hiding behind the rack of clothes? Her talking to him, praying for him, his comments on God, God not being told that he was not God anymore? The harsh judgments? His continued returns to the shop? Going out drinking with Hannah? Taking her to his friend’s house and her praying for him? His return, the abusive language, comment about her way of life, hurting her? his friend’s death? The attitude of his daughter? Audience estimation of Joseph?
7. Olivia Colman’s portrait of Hannah? Seeing her in the shop, the initial impression, a volunteer in the op shop, her reaction to Joseph coming in and hiding, talking to him, praying? The other visits? Going out and drinking with him? His abusing her for her life and style? Her being hurt, shutting him out? Her own faith being tested by her experiences?
8. Jim, his appearances, in the photo at home, Hannah on the couch, his coming in late, urinating on her? the morning, his demand for sex, his crass speech? Talking with her, coming into the shop, seeing Joseph, suspicions and hearing that she was out drinking? His being thought of well by others? The visit, his jealousy, his bashing Hannah? Hannah out drinking, in the street, her memories of her husband’s brutality? His coming to pick her up? Taking her home, the violence and ugliness of the rape?
9. Hannah, going to Joseph, helping with a suit for the funeral, going to the funeral? Going to his home, his letting her stay, saying she must go, the flowers, the meal? Joseph taking the key, going to her flat, seeing Jimmy dead? His return, reaction, his judgmental attitude towards Hannah?
10. The passing of the year, the voice-over and his writing the letter to Hannah, saying that enough was enough and that he had changed? The suit, going to the prison, getting through security, visiting Hannah? The audience shocked that Hannah had killed her husband? Her experience in jail, her appearance?
11. The future, audience response to these two characters – repellent in some ways, sympathetic in many ways? Possibilities of redemption?
