Powell’s first film appearances, described below, were in “For Elsie”, “Private Peaceful”, “Anita B.”, and “Quartet”. On television, she starred as the mermaid Ryn in in 36 episodes of the Freeform series SIREN. Powell’s first TV role was as Lule in episode one of Richard Cottan’s series “The Fear” which first aired on the UK’s Channel 4 in 2012.
ANITA B. – directed by Roberto Faenza
Anita and David tell each other their birthdays. David is born on 26 January, as is Nico Millagro, who plays him. Anita is born on 12 April, as is Eline Powell.
Eline Powell‘s first starring role was as Anita in ANITA B., a film based on the semi-autobiographical novel “Quanta stella c’è nel cielo” (How Many Stars In The Sky) by Auschwitz survivor Edith Bruck, and set in Eastern Europe just after the end of World War II. ANITA B. deals with the repatriation of concentration camp survivors, a part of history largely neglected in films. In the opening scene we see Anita being handed into the custody of her uncle’s brother Eli (Robert Sheehan) on a snowy day in May.
Eli takes Anita to her uncle’s house in the village of Zvikov, but whenever she talks about what happened to her, she is told (especially by her Aunt Monika) to forget all that and move on. She spends a lot of time talking to her nephew, who is too young to understand a word she says.
Eli and Anita
The film begins with a quote from Isaac Bashevis Singer’s story “Gimple the Fool“: “Whatever doesn’t really happen is dreamed at night. It happens to one if it doesn’t happen to another, tomorrow if not today, or a century hence if not next year.”
It is a surprisingly hopeful story, and is told in incomplete fragments as though the memory of the person telling it has been clouded by the passage of time. Anita’s friendship with a musical neighbor and her brief time in a local jail are recounted.
Anita paints a mural on the wall of her room to pass the time. Her Aunt Monica (Andrea Osvárt) doesn’t like it, but her Uncle Aaron (Antonio Cupo) suggests she paint the whole apartment to “get rid of every trace of the Sudetens”.
Sarah and Anita
When Anita gets pregnant, Eli takes her to Budapest for an abortion even though she doesn’t want one. The doctor is sympathetic, and makes Eli think the child has been aborted when it really has not. After Eli, who does not know she is still pregnant, locks her in their hotel room, Anita pauses to give her situation some thought, then pulls the sheets from the bed, but does not make them into a rope as one might expect. Instead, she tips the mattress over the balcony rail, and leaps. It’s not much of a mattress and it’s a good thing she’s only on the second floor.
Anita locates the Jewish Refugee Centre which is run by a woman named Sarah (Jane Alexander), and waits there, protected from Eli, for the opportunity to leave for Palestine. “I want to write,” she tells Sarah. “Poetry, novels, fairytales. I want to invent a world that doesn’t exist.” And when Sarah asks “Isn’t this one enough?” she replies: “Mine will be more beautiful.”
QUARTET – directed by Dustin Hoffman
Eline Powell and Luke Newberry in QUARTET
Powell was was Angelique in the 2012 musical dramedy QUARTET, a quiet film set in a home for retired musicians. Reggie (Tom Courtenay) is disconcerted by the discovery that his ex-wife Jean (with whom he is still in love) is moving in just in time for the annual benefit concert on Verdi’s birthday. Powell’s character Angelique gives Cedric (Michael Gambon) a manicure; is a server in the dining hall; and is romantically involved with co-worker Simon (Luke Newberry). Maggie Smith, who plays Jean, got a Golden Globe nomination for her role in this, and Billy Connolly turned in a remarkable performance as Wilf, a role originally written for Albert Finney. (When Finney turned down the role due to ill health, Peter O’Toole was cast, but he also left the production because of health concerns.) QUARTET is the first film directed by Dustin Hoffman, and was based on the 1999 stage play by Ronald Harwood. Many of the supporting cast are retired musicians. YouTube has a trailer.
PRIVATE PEACEFUL – directed by Pat O’Connor
Eline Powell and George MacKay in PRIVATE PEACEFUL
Also released in 2012 was PRIVATE PEACEFUL, the story of two brothers from Devon whose lives are horribly disrupted by World War I. When Tommo (George MacKay) was very young, he fell in love with Molly (Alexandra Roach) but soon discovered that she was already secretly involved with his brother Charlie (Jack O’Connell). Tommo was devastated, but that becomes relatively unimportant when the two brothers are forced to go to Belgium to fight in the war. Powell plays Anna, a Flanders barmaid with whom Tommo, the younger Peaceful brother, has a brief flirtation. (She is killed by a German bomb shortly thereafter.) PRIVATE PEACEFUL is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Michael Morpurgo. Eline Powell was born in Leuven, the fourth largest city in Flanders.
FOR ELSIE – directed by David Winstone
Eline Powell and Blake Ritson in FOR ELSIE
Before all that, there was Eline Powell’s very first film appearance in the short comedy FOR ELSIE, which won a Student Academy Award. Powell plays Mila, daughter of Russian mobster Kilov (Olegar Fedoro). A struggling piano teacher (Glenn, played by Blake Ritson) is offered £10,000 by Kilov to teach Mila to play Beethoven’s Für Elise in one day, something that seems quite impossible. The entire twenty-two minute film can be streamed on YouTube.
PRIVATE PEACEFUL can be streamed on TUBI,
QUARTET and PRIVATE PEACEFUL are available on DVD and Blu-ray.
ANITA B. can be purchased ass a Region 2 Italian import.)
SIREN can be streamed on HULU.
Revised. Originally posted on 15/07/2018