A girl has a right to dream. At the beginning of the XX century not much else is guaranteed to a young and frail schoolchild. The wild and uncouth Angel (played by Romola Garai) however has a different outlook, as her dreams are not fantasies, but a prediction of the future. Immensely talented as a writer, despite shallow contempt to reading books, Angel is all-in-all a literary hack with an undeniable way with words and romance. At an early age she is discovered by a publisher Théo (Sam Neill), who becomes so fascinated with her writings, that he agrees to release her first book to critical and commercial acclaim. Angel uses the newly found fame and wealth to purchase her dream house Paradise, marry the man of her desires and become a larger than life as if straight from her novels...
Francois Ozon tackles the whole movie with an unmistakable signature delving into the epoque with wit and charm encapsulated by the character of Angel. Multilayered and hard to crack she is presented as an alternative type of rebel without a cause, absolutely engulfed by her own brilliance, that she is unable to break out of her shell to take a gulp of reality. Once she molds her dream-life she seems to believe that this is the end of the story, her life has reached perfection and no further chapters need be written. However the barrier she builds around herself becomes a prison from where she struggles to see that her perfect life is more a projection of her expectations into reality than reality itself.
All in all an interesting concept and to a point well contrived. At some stages the movie uses an absolutely pathetic excuse for backgrounds, i.e. while riding in a carriage across London we she varying landmarks of the city rudely apparent to be fake, to highlight the audacity of Angel's dream-life, as if taken from a romance novel. Nonetheless the movie falters in creating a mood to coincide with the premise of the story. Throughout the movie Angel is a hysterically overplayed and pretentious character, which draws multiple laughs in the most awkward situations, i.e. whilst reading her husband's eulogy or when drawing her last breath before death. This odes of course give the movie a certain whiff of freshness, as Angel's eccentrics really get you interested in her character (however unlikeable she may be). Nonetheless this was taken to such an extreme that at times I was unsure whether "Angel" is essentially a pastiche of costume dramas, with a by the numbers script full with often hilarious scenes, as if making fun of the whole genre and its dramatics.
All in all an enjoyable movie, but the awkwardness of the permeating funniness of Angel and her undergoing together with the lack of clarity as to the intentions of the director make the eventual reaction to it a meandering mess of drama, comedy and rushed narrative.
Francois Ozon tackles the whole movie with an unmistakable signature delving into the epoque with wit and charm encapsulated by the character of Angel. Multilayered and hard to crack she is presented as an alternative type of rebel without a cause, absolutely engulfed by her own brilliance, that she is unable to break out of her shell to take a gulp of reality. Once she molds her dream-life she seems to believe that this is the end of the story, her life has reached perfection and no further chapters need be written. However the barrier she builds around herself becomes a prison from where she struggles to see that her perfect life is more a projection of her expectations into reality than reality itself.
All in all an interesting concept and to a point well contrived. At some stages the movie uses an absolutely pathetic excuse for backgrounds, i.e. while riding in a carriage across London we she varying landmarks of the city rudely apparent to be fake, to highlight the audacity of Angel's dream-life, as if taken from a romance novel. Nonetheless the movie falters in creating a mood to coincide with the premise of the story. Throughout the movie Angel is a hysterically overplayed and pretentious character, which draws multiple laughs in the most awkward situations, i.e. whilst reading her husband's eulogy or when drawing her last breath before death. This odes of course give the movie a certain whiff of freshness, as Angel's eccentrics really get you interested in her character (however unlikeable she may be). Nonetheless this was taken to such an extreme that at times I was unsure whether "Angel" is essentially a pastiche of costume dramas, with a by the numbers script full with often hilarious scenes, as if making fun of the whole genre and its dramatics.
All in all an enjoyable movie, but the awkwardness of the permeating funniness of Angel and her undergoing together with the lack of clarity as to the intentions of the director make the eventual reaction to it a meandering mess of drama, comedy and rushed narrative.