THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Erick Zonca's film tells the and
moderately predictable story of two young women
living a picaresque life together in a borrowed
apartment. Somewhat in the style of Truffaut's
THE 400 BLOWS they live amorally, stealing
where they can. Their life is a hand to mouth
existence with occasional relationships with
men. The portraits are well-etched, but the
story is very low-key and overly long. Rating:
5 (0 to 10), low +1 (-4 to +4)
New York Critics: 13 positive, 1 negative, 2
mixed
THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS is basically a simple slice-of-life story told at a leisurely pace. Twenty-one year old Isa (Elodie Bouchez) comes to the town of Lille in the north part of France to be near her boyfriend only to find out he is out of the country working on a construction job. With no money and no place to live she barely makes enough to feed herself by cutting pictures from magazines and turning them into greeting cards and religious decorations which she sells on the street claiming the proceeds are for charity. She spends her time freeloading and getting into trouble. For a few weeks she lives without a home begging from strangers. During a stint in an abortive attempt at a job in a sewing factory she befriends Marie (Natacha Regnier) and moves into an apartment that Marie is looking after for Sandine, a comatose woman that neither Iso nor Marie has actually met. Marie feels little gratitude to Sandine, but Isa feels some responsibility to their unwitting benefactor and spends hours in the hospital reading to the unconscious Sandine. Isa and Marie meet and make friends with two working class men, Fredo and Charly (Jo Prestia and Patrick Mercado), who do security at concerts and work as club bouncers. The two remain only occasionally romantic friends. But then Marie meets and gets involved with Chris (Gregoire Colin), the attractive young owner of two up-scale bars. Isa does not think much of Chris and believes that Marie is reaching beyond her station. She is certain that Marie will only be hurt in the end.
Though not nearly as disturbed as the woman returned from the dead she plays in J'AIMERAIS PAS CREVER UN DIMANCHE, Bouchez plays Isa as punk and sassy, yet with a sincere and caring core. Isa lavishes hours of care and attention on Sandine, but shies away from receiving any gratitude for the effort. Regnier plays Marie as a romantic in spite of herself, lacking either in free will or sense.
Erick Zonca, who co-wrote the screenplay as well as directed, has given us a detailed and three-dimensional picture of two very marginalized women. His Isa and Marie just get by, frequently by stealing, with very little thought for the future. They are not the most likable characters, but they are probably much like women that can be found in any city. Zonca does not romanticize and makes little attempt to excuse, but they are very believable and very real people. One is reminded both of THE 400 BLOWS in the earlier parts of the film and of "La Boheme" later. His deliberate pacing may well end up being more frustrating in the US than in his native France. And it would be one thing if the pacing were used to add depth to the characters. Frequently they are involved in some activity that tells us little about their character beyond that Isa is not particularly fastidious with her nail polish.
Overall there is really about a half-hour or perhaps an hour's worth of story here spread thinly over 113 minutes. While the title is not quite as sarcastic and bitter as ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE, this is not a world to which the viewer may want to contribute so much time. I give the film 5 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1999 Mark R. Leeper
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