Colm Meaney in Claire Dolan – Totalitarian Acting

Colm Meaney’s performance in Claire Dolan (Lodge Kerrigan 1998), is a devastating example of a cinematic villain whose menace is not the product of “emotions” or “characteriztion” but of calculated shifts in action.

Meaney plays Roland Cain, a gangster, pimp, restauranteur, master manipulator and thoroughly nasty piece of work. His relationship with Claire Dolan [played by Katrin Cartlidge] is complex – he’s known her since she was 12 and old photographs imply he was a friend of the family. But now he’s put Claire on the game to work off a mysterious debt possibly linked to her late father. Cain is no one-note thug, however. He operates from a sophisticated restaurant; all white tablecloths, jazz and fine wines. He enjoys the refined aesthetic yet he’s capable of ruthless violence and psychological domination. Cain’s ability to shift between personas – a sometime-thug, sometime-philosopher, sometime-benefactor, makes him unpredictable and terrifying – his suite of tools to exert and maintain his power.

Meaney’s performance of Roland Cain is a masterpiece of force, precision and discipline, reminiscent of the great Jean Gabin, in fact. Its also a brilliant example of an actor working in concert with the script. The script offers multiple opportunities for an actor to make radical changes in action within the same scene, opportunities Meaney takes with aplomb. Herein lies the enormous effectiveness of his performance: as Cain’s gangster power comes from his shifts in persona, so Meaney’s dramatic power stems from his shifts in action. This also makes Meaney’s performance such a rich one to study for actors, writers and directors – these actions are just so pronounced in the script and Meaney executes them with absolute clarity. The overall effect of Meaney’s work here is to create a singular and devastating portrait of cinematic menace.

Examples Meaney’s Action Shifts – what does he literally do?

a) The Restaurant Confrontation: Vincent D’Onofrio plays Claire’s boyfriend – a busted-out cab driver desperate to get her off the game. He pays Meaney a visit at his restaurant and Meaney…

1. – greets Vincent with an unassuming “I’ve been expecting you”
2. – he quickly turns thug and punches D’Onofrio brutally in the gut
3. – he turns host, instructing the barman to fix D’Onofrio a drink
4. – he escorts D’Onofrio off the premises with a philosophical; “start looking after yourself, you’re not a kid anymore.”

Here we see Meaney flip through a repertoire of actions in classic fashion to exert his power.

b) The “Accidentally-On-Purpose” Encounter – here we see Meaney switch from gangster to “old friend” – a radical shift, and possibly an insight into how he insinuated himself into Claire’s family years earlier.
Near the film’s end, Meaney “accidentally” encounters D’Onofrio in the city with his heavily pregnant partner. Meaney plays the warm, middle-aged family man, feigning familiarity and expressing delight at Vincent’s unborn daughter, chatting about his own recently arrived son and even placing a hand on the woman’s belly. This shift in action suggests a predatory pattern, echoing Claire, where he engulfs D’Onofrio’s life with the possible intention of trapping his soon-to-be-born-daughter in a life of prostitution in the future. Meane’s folksy charm in this scene is profoundly unsettling.

c) Strange Advice scene – where we see how Meaney combines actions in order to emotionally manipulate Claire.

Meaney berates Claire for looking fatigued. He warns her not to let the clients “get inside” her. He tells her she’s only got 2 or 3 years left [before she’s burnt out] and that she needs to “think!”. Here Meaney combines philosophy, threat and fake advice. He has locked her in this situation but now he is advising her as though she has free will.

There are many many more examples of these actions throughout the film, but these should create the idea.

Meaney’s Roland Cain is an expert onscreen demonstration of power. He doesn’t just dominate his victims he scars their soul. He engulfs them, envelopes their lives, and there can be no way out, not now not ever, or not until he’s had his pound of flesh. As he envelopes his victims in the film, so to does he envelop the viewer; his atmosphere, his vibe, its invisible but it could be anywhere. Those of us with more excitable imaginations might look over our shoulder just to make sure he isn’t standing behind us. Its totalitarian acting. And all achieved with simple shifts in simple actions. Now that’s something worth aiming for.

FURTHER READING