 |
 |
| Directed by Erick Zonca; Starring Élodie Bouchez, Natacha Régnier, Grégoire Colin, Jo Prestia, and Patrick Mercado |
When telling people that I would go to quite a bit of trouble to see The Dreamlife of Angels (La Vie Rêvée des Anges), they would say that it had better be good. Luckily it was. After seeing The Dreamlife of Angels, I can well understand why it was honored at so many awards (European Film Awards, César Awards, Cannes Film Festival), especially for its two leading ladies.
The film follows the aftermath of a friendship between two single women after being thrown together at a sewing factory. The main one is Isa (Bouchez), who seems to be a desperate individual in the beginning, but by the end seems the one with a better grasp on her own life. The other is Marie (Régnier), a woman that seems to be at a nice point in her life where everything seems to work out, but she too does not live up to character. On her first day of work, Isa befriends Marie and is invited to share an apartment with Marie that she is watching over while its owners are in a coma. Jobless but happy the two are an undividable pair, that is until Marie begins to change and grow against Isa. When a young bar owner named Chris (Colin) enters Marie’s life, Isa sees a different side of Marie only before shown upon a visit by Marie’s mother. As the days go by, Isa notices the destruction of the friendship and the coldness Marie has taken upon her one time best friend. All Marie seems to care about is what she can do to make things fine for her to end up with Chris for good instead of simply being his “call-girl”. She begins to poke fun at everything that Isa does, especially visiting the comatose girl whose mother owned the place they are residing at.
The two performances are the best I’ve seen for this year, perfectly playing off each other. I can understand why the Cannes Festival decided to give both of them the Best Actress award considering how hard it is to decide which one was better. The subtle charm of Bouchez is just as entrancing as the terrible self-destruction going on in Régnier. The screenplay and direction by first timer Erick Zonca proves just how far French cinema has gone since losing Truffaut. My only real problem with the film seems to be in the realm of pacing. It seemed a bit overlong and pushed. I did like what I saw, but thought that at times, I had already seen enough (especially in a subplot between Marie and a bouncer). All in all, The Dreamlife of Angels is one of the best films of the year and easily the best foreign language film I’ve seen this year. A sweet yet disturbing film, it captures just what I love about foreign cinema.
