Hi ladyc.

Thanks for reading this and for your comments

"The Third Man" (1949) A film set in post war Vienna at the time it was occupied by French, British, Russian and American forces. Harry Lime was an American racketeer, Anna Schmidt, his girlfriend/lover. Holly Martins was Harry's best friend from childhood, but they had gone their separate ways - until now.

You say Anna is detached and dispassionate. Here's what Screenonline says:

Anna undergoes a transformation in The Third Man. At first she's fragile and full of sorrow. She speaks in a murmur and sometimes shrinks to the edges of scenes, as if trying to avoid scrutiny ... She has lost hope because she thinks Harry's dead ...

Yet when she realises Harry is alive, and that Holly poses a threat to him, she suddenly becomes an active, wilful character. "He's alive - now this minute he's doing something," she says to Calloway in a whisper, nearly dumbfounded by the news. She becomes like a femme fatale, to the extent that she instigates action, refusing to be dictated to. Now she follows her own rules defiantly. She rips up the new papers Holly has arranged for her once she realises they're the price he has demanded in order to set up Harry for capture. She even tosses away the coat Holly gives her to keep warm. And later she bursts into the café where Holly has lured Harry, warning him off before he can be ambushed (and, incidentally, getting in between the two men so Harry cannot shoot the gun he holds).

I hope I have managed to reflect some of that, including her femininity (as that is the point of this exercise).

I agree about the confusion between Calloway and Martins at the end, I will amend that. Thank-you for pointing it out: I knew what I meant and it didn't occur to me that it was ambiguous!

TYWD