THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS (LA VIE REVEE DES ANGES) (Sony Classics) Starring: Elodie Bouchez, Natacha Regnier, Gregoire Colin, Patrick Mercado. Screenplay: Erick Zonca and Roger Bohbot. Producer: Francois Marquis. Director: Erick Zonca. MPAA Rating: R (nudity, sexual situations, adult themes, profanity) Running Time: 112 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Many films have traced the arc of a romantic relationship in which the two principals, despite initial appearances that they are a perfect pair, are destined never to be happy together. They have been sweet (ANNIE HALL), sad (CASABLANCA), even sordid (9 1/2 WEEKS); indeed, they have come in virtually every possible permutation. THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS is the first film I can recall which traces the arc of a platonic friendship in the same terms. Sparked by two superb performances in complex roles, it's as affecting and involving as any tale in which the doomed couple are romantic partners instead of pals.
The two pals in THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS meet while working at a dress factory in the French city of Lille. Isa Tostin (Elodie Bouchez) is a 21-year-old itinerant stranded without a place to stay when the friend she has coming looking for is nowhere to be found; Marie Thomas (Natacha Gregnier) is a hard-edged woman living for free in the apartment of a woman and her daughter severly injured in an auto accident. Marie invites Isa to stay with her, and the two kindred free spirits quickly become inseparable.
The dynamic between the two central characters works from the outset only because they are so carefully, beautifully drawn by Erick Zonca and Roger Bohbot. The punky Isa and hair-trigger Marie click from their first meeting, two rebels without a cent who delight in taunting bouncers at a local nightclub or coming on to random men in a mall. Their playful irreverence makes for some entertaining scenes, and allows the two lead actresses to develop a believable chemistry. That kind of chemistry is critical to a story about a relationship -- if Isa and Marie don't seem like ideal best friends when they first get acquainted, the rest of THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS becomes utterly irrelevant.
It's just as important that the appearance of an ideal pairing proves deceiving, and the film works just as well revealing that truth. Where Isa is sincerely searching for someone with whom she can connect, Marie consistently sabotages every stable thing in her life. Isa finds the diary of the comatose teenager whose room she is occupying, and begins to visit the girl in the hospital while manufacturing a dialogue with her. Marie, meanwhile, dumps the chubby but loving Charly (Patrick Mercado) for the callow, abusive Chris (Gregoire Colin), and refuses to put forth an effort to land another job. Though the psyches of the two women are perhaps too easily distilled into a brief discussion of their respective parentage, Bouchez and Gregnier flesh out their roles as opposite sides of the same wounded coin.
The character study of THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS is so strong that it's easier to overlook its short-comings: a drawn-out prologue before the two women meet, under-developed supporting characters, and a third act which takes an unnecessarily melodramatic turn. Zonca's minimalist direction never gets in the way of the performances, but it also does little to complement them. In fact, the story might have worked even better as a two-character stage play. That's not to take anything away from the effectiveness of those characters in the film, or the skilled actresses who bring them to life. It's a thoroughly compelling exploration of female bonding and un-bonding, a "chick flick" turned on its head. The disintegration of a friendship has rarely felt quite so tragic.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 sinking friend-ships: 8.
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