This is my favourite Swarla scene ever for multiple reasons but I just have to talk about it why it's my favourite.
Firstly, the acting is so spot on and so subtle in this scene. Both Vicky and Ali are masters at different ways of acting. Vicky is great at subtle and more quiet acting which is one of my favourite types of characterisation, because not everyone is extroverted.
Ali by comparison is great at subtle in a different way. Her character hides vulnerability behind a dry sense of humour and an extroverted demeaner.
Both of them play their parts perfectly in this scene in exactly how I would have pictured their characters to do it.
Lisa is honest and raw. Because she is drunk and feels so relieved to have Carla there, she is spilling out quiet truths. Lisa is not a loud, expressive person but underneath she is quite the softy and this is truly how she feels. This is also the vulnerability that I believe Carla fell in love in love with. Lisa is tough on the outside and soft on the inside and Carla acts tough on the outside but is also much softer than she appears so she understands this.
Then there's how Lisa is lying there so content to be with Carla, not wanting to be anywhere else in the world at that moment, blissfully unaware of the internal struggle Carla is actually experiencing at that moment.
Carla's body language being in contrast with what she says is genius acting. Carla jokes, which is something she often does, a very common defence mechanism for British people, particularly Northerners is dry humour and Carla does this without even thinking. Her guard is up but it's failing because she shouldn't even be there helping Lisa in her mind. She is supposed to be still angry at her but she could not stay away from helping her in her drunken state and has ended up with her, then ex, in her lap blurting out her feelings, after publically admitting how much she loved Carla before throwing up.
Carla tries to resist but she loves Lisa so much and the body language she does with her hands, refusing to touch her is so clever. I actually do that exact same thing when I am trying to resist intrusive/OCD thoughts and compulsions. Carla is mentally and physically wanting to touch Lisa as she would have when they were together and this is her trying not to.
Then the eye movement. She glances away as she replies to Lisa, as if wondering if she can get out of there soon and away from the conflict she is experiencing but when Lisa confesses how much she loves Carla again, Carla's defenses crumble into pieces because, of course, she loves Lisa just as much. You see this in how she allows herself to touch Lisa on the shoulder how she brushes back Lisa's hair and how she finally says how much she loves her too. But before that touch you can see the exact moment she lets it all go and chooses to let herself love Lisa again, by how she sighs deeply and looks down at Lisa. The confession is the breaking point and Carla can't resist any longer. The fact that Carla is even there with her was a sure sign that she was not ready to let Lisa go and much as she tries to hold strong, it is Lisa's sweetness and vulnerable honesty that she loves about her. She always expresses liking Lisa's blunt honesty but I suspect it's her softness that she is drawn to also. When she jokes that insulting her clients and throwing up in the bistro, reminded her what she first saw in Lisa, she is telling the truth but not perhaps in the way it seems. I think rather that Carla finds drunk Lisa extremely sweet as well as amusing and has a desire to protect her when she's struggling.
Her first real moment with Lisa when she first gets into her car, Lisa is struggling and upset with Betsy and with her grief and Carla sees that when she's not being a 'hard-nosed copper' she cares a great deal about her daughter and is trying her best to keep everything afloat.
Carla, being a business women and boss understands how much pressure it is to be in a position of authority and how much people can silently be suffering from it.
The next moment where things shift is when Carla tells Lisa to take care of herself and not just for Betsy's sake. Lisa is moved and surprised that someone else cares and this is the side of Carla I believe she falls in love with, her protective, caring side. Carla is deeply understanding, underneath all that pretense of being tough and has a lot of compassion, though she pretends not to have.
The final moment where we see this is when Lisa first gets drunk and falls asleep on Carla's couch, which Carla finds hilarious but she also finds herself wanting to take care of her, putting a blanket over her and smiling when she sees her curled up and asleep. Carla likes this messy side of Lisa. The responsible copper is just as human as Carla is and Carla actually loves that but also Lisa has no one who ever looks after her and Carla knows what that is like. No one looked after her growing up. Her home life was terrible and she had to care for others but no one really cared for her. Lisa gives off the same impression. She works so hard to protect other people and to protect her daughter but no one checks in on her. Carla realises that very quickly and in this way they are very alike. Although Carla does have more support now, she had times where really didn't have anyone.
I can't count how many times I have watched this scene. I could analyse it forever but it is such a good scene and they both do brilliantly in it. Long post, I know but I just had to write some of my analysis down on why it's my absolute favourite.
Also I couldn't find the whole scene. This is the second half and from a repost but it's the whole scene I am talking about.
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