The Dreamlife of Angels (1998) User Reviews

simple but great

[T-10 · 8/10 · 21 August 1999]

Dreamlife Of Angels best exemplifies why I enjoy foreign films. It is not dependent on "star" power, computer generated images, overt violence, or scenes with fantastic stunts. What it has are characters which are richly developed, believable, showing emotions which are palpable and for whom we can care. What we find out here is simple is sometimes best. The plot is the life and death of a friendship. It is an interesting character study of two poor, young women. One is outgoing and carefree while the other has been abused is more withdrawn and insecure. The set is a small, very plain town in France which was filmed simply and often with hand held cameras. The performances by Elodie Bouchez (Isa) and Natacha Regnier (Marie) in the title characters were outstanding. Gregorie Colin (Chris) as the boyfriend, club owner, and heel was great as well. The film as also provides food for thought in its title especially considering the last few scenes. I'll let you make those conclusions. If you don't get to see this film in the theater, rent it. Caution: the film's rating is due to a rather explicit sex scene. Three plus stars!!!

The Struggles of the Young

[gbheron · 8/10 · 22 April 2001]

"Dreamlife of Angels" is an absorbing film about two young French women struggling to find their place in life. Both are solidly working class, unskilled and rootless. Circumstance has thrown them together and the film describes a two-month period as they housesit the apartment of a car accident victim. Their prospects are not great, and each deals with the hand life has dealt them very differently.

This is not an uplifting movie, but not a downer either. It tells it's story straight up and unflinchingly. Everything about it is top drawer; the screenplay, the directing and especially the acting by the two young leads, Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier. We'll definitely see more them in the future. This movie is highly recommended.

Poignant tale of two young women with diametrical viewpoint to life -- terrific performances!

[ruby_fff · 7/10 · 17 September 1999]

Writer-director Erick Zonca's debut film certainly is a bold attempt with no apology to the subjects at hand. He succeeded in delivering the many facets of living and loving -- essentially surviving life's difficulties and juxtaposing how one, with persistence, can come through it all vs. the flip side of a helpless condition -- a suicidal person in one's own entrapment.

Isa is the embodiment of tenacity and hope eternal, while Marie is depressive non self-loving personified. Isa's goal in life is to appreciate living, however modest, and her willingness to help others, to share a little happiness keeps her going in spite of all odds. Marie, on the other hand, is the extreme opposite: she has no love for anything or anyone -- she hates herself, her mother, her family, her life -- her low self-esteem alienated herself and the people around her who really care for her. A delusional cocoon she's wrapped herself in, and when it breaks, it crumbles to a point of no return. It's depressing to see her development, or rather, non-development, while it's uplifting to see Isa balancing the harsh realities of life.

Due credits to the two main leading ladies, Elodie Bouchez as Isa and Natacha Regnier as Marie. Bouchez really shines: her smile, her candidness, her enthusiasm in living exudes on her face! Self-esteem is an important element and that is what character Marie very much is lacking. Emotionally unbalanced with violent reactions, she does not know what to do with herself or what she wants -- aimlessly she seeks for affection mistaken as lovingness; she's numb and unreachable. She took Isa's friendship for granted while Isa tries her utmost to 'save' Marie from falling into a helpless self-pitiful state.

Miracles do happen. Tenacity does reward. Tragedy is by fate destined. Marie asked, "what if the other person refuses," and Isa said, "you move on". We are fortunate to be able to learn with Isa, smile and laugh with her, explore and read the diary book, visit Sandrine at the hospital, talk to Sandrine, touch her, and hope and pray with her. There is strength in Isa's brilliant smiling face -- gentleness and human spirit she truly stands for. She is an angel, a godsend!

This is NFE (not for everyone): there are explicit intimate scenes and the behavior displayed by character Marie is not encouraged, thus mature audience consumption only. It's in French. Pacing is relatively tight compared to most French films.

Anne Fontaine's "Dry Cleaning" is another French film subtly interweaved the depiction of a young man who has depressive suicidal bent without being evident. It describes a couple, Miou-Miou's character Nicole, a discontented wife married 15 years to a Dry Cleaning business owner, Jean-Marie (portrayed by Charles Berling), leading a rather uneventful life in this small suburban town, when one day, Loic the young man (sensitively portrayed by Stanislas Merhar) entered their lives, home and stirred emotional havoc. Good performances in spite of the lull steady pace. For mature and patient audience. Another NFE.

A sad and beautiful movie

[DennisLittrell · 10/10 · 16 September 2001]

Two French girls who are "not the chosen ones" (to recall Cyndi Laper) befriend one another after meeting at a sweat shop where they operate sewing machines. One of them, Marie (Natacha Régnier) is apartment-sitting for a mother and her daughter who are in the hospital, victims of an accident. The other, Isabelle (Élodie Bouchez) has been living day to day with her backpack on her back, sometimes selling handmade cards on street corners. Almost immediately there is an affinity, and they find joy and adventure in one another's company.

Part of the power of Erick Zonca's forceful and precise direction is to make us not only identify with his two heroines, but to force us see the world from their point of view. They are tossed about by strong emotions, powerfully projected by both actresses. Their lives and happiness are at the whim of forces beyond their control, the most powerful of which are their own feelings.

When I was a little boy and went to the movies I would see three films, bang, bang, bang, one after the other, and when I came out, five or six hours later, I was transformed. I had grown, and I could see the world in a different way. Of course I was a little boy and every little bit of experience was amazing and added to my knowledge of the world. Now, such transformations, like moments of Zen enlightenment, are rare and precious. The Dream Life of Angels is one of those rare and precious films that has the kind of power to make us see the world afresh as though for the very first time.

Bouchez and Régnier shared the Best Actress award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for their work in this movie. Indeed it is hard to choose between them. Both are wonderful. Bouchez's character, Isabelle, has a gentle, fun-loving, child-like nature, tomboyish and sentimental. Marie is cynical, uptight and wired. Her emotions swing wildly from deep pessimism to a tenuous hope for something better in this life. When she is seduced, rather forcefully, by the arrogant and predatory Chris (Grégoire Colin) who owns nightclubs and is accustomed to having his way with women, she is stunned to find that she wants him, needs him, loves him. But she knows (and is warned by Isabelle) that he is just using her and will dump her. She hates herself for loving him and therefore lashes out at Isabelle who is a witness to her humiliation.

As a counterpoint to the raw animal love that Marie finds in Chris, there is the tender, dreamlike love that Isabelle finds for the daughter of the woman who owns the apartment. The mother dies from her injuries, but the daughter, Sandrine, lives on in a coma. Isabelle finds Sandrine's diary and reads it, and is touched by the sentiments expressed by the girl, and falls in love with her. A nurse tells Isabelle: "You can talk to her. She's sleeping, but she can hear you." Whether she can or not, we don't know, but to show her love Isabelle visits the comatose girl in the hospital and reads from her diary to her.

In a sense we feel that the dream life of angels is the dream of Sandrine, who is dreaming the life of the young women who are living in her apartment.

She is an angel and they are her dream, a troubled dream of raw emotion contrasted with her state of quiet somnolence.

The Dream Life of Angels is beautifully shot in tableaux of pastel interiors in which the characters are sometimes seen at offset as in portraits. In one scene we see one of the girls in the apartment while in the right upper corner is a window through which we see in clear focus a car pass in front of a picturesque building, so that the scene is seen in layers, so that we experience the inner life and the outside world at once. In another scene, Isabelle is reading Sandrine's diary, which we see over her shoulder. Just as she reads the words that excite her passion for the girl, there is just the slightest quickening of tempo as Isabelle flips the page to see what Sandrine writes next, and in that small gesture, we feel the emotions of the girls, the one who wrote the words and the one who reads them.

As a foil to the smooth, but bestial Chris, we are given Charlie (Patrick Mercado), fat motorcycle dude who is gentle and wise. This enlightened juxtaposition of character is part of director Erick Zonca's technique. We see it also in the contrasting characters of Marie and Isabelle.

Obviously this is a work of art, but it is also a triumph of film making in a directorial sense. Zonca's careful attention to detail and his total concentration throughout turn something that might have been merely original into a masterful work of art.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

Remarkable simple and honest

[lou-50 · 13 May 1999]

Think of desperate couples in cinema and you conjure up Joe Buck and Ratzo from "Midnight Cowboy" or "Thelma and Louise". After seeing the beautifully done French film, "Dreamlife of Angels", you must add Isa and Marie to that list. "Dreamlife of Angels" triumphs because it is a story simply told and acted with such real-life honesty that you feel intimately tied to the main characters by film's end. It also helps that it is filmed mostly with a hand-held camera giving close ups and studied portraits of two people's alienated lives. Isabella is twenty-one, moving from town to town with all her worldly belongings on her backpack, intelligent yet strangely without much of a future. Marie is the same age and in the same rut, seemingly without any anchor herself although she does have a flat she is 'house-sitting' since the mother and daughter occupants have been involved in a tragic auto accident. They want to chain smoke their way through life, devoid of wealth and ambition. There is much insight into their broken lives when Isa remarks that her father left her mother for another woman when she was young while Marie counters that having separated parents is better than to have an abusive father living together with her victimized mother. The title of this film suggests an angelic life but it is clear from their bleak existence that it is a wish and a yearning rather than reality. Isa and Marie do get to share each other's misery. And their desire not to follow the cookie cutter mode does unite them for awhile (the film makes pointed references to a sewing factory and an electronics workplace where everyone is doing the exact tedious chore). However Marie falls prey to her blind passion to love and be loved and cannot tolerate the conscience personified by Isa. For it is Isa that nags about loyalty to friends, about the scoundrel boyfriend Chris who will only break her heart and about a bond of fidelity toward Sandrine, hospitalized in a deep coma and someone Isa knows only from reading her personal diary. "Dreamlife of Angels" could have passed as another soap opera if not for the genuine performances of Elodie Bouchez as Isa and Natacha Regnier as Marie. Their smiles and grimaces are heartfelt and it is their portraits which illuminate a most telling story of love, betrayal, and finally resignation.

First feature absolutely stunning

[SKG-2 · 10/10 · 19 April 1999]

At the risk of sounding like a quote whore, if I see ten films better than this one released this year, 1999 is going to be an excellent year. First time director Erick Zonca has made an absolutely stunning debut, which not only resonates while you watch it, but gets you thinking afterwards (for example, I didn't get that last shot right away, but after thinking about it, I did). And while there's a philosophical point to be made, this is not what I would call a "nothingness of being" movie, where the primary interest of the filmmaker would seem to be either lecturing the audience, or in self-indulgent symbolism. Instead, Zonca makes his points lightly and carefully, allowing them to build up for us later.

Of course, it also helps that he has the services of Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier, who deservedly shared the Best Actress Award at Cannes last year(and if there's any justice, will be nominated for an Oscar this year). Bouchez's Isa is hooked on life, in a dreamy way, and is open to all the possibilities, yet she sees how fleeting it all is. Regnier's Marie, on the other hand, doesn't expect much from the hand she's been dealt, and enters a bad relationship because of it, but there's enough there that we desperately wish she could find the peace Isa wishes her near the end. I forget who said great acting is in the eyes, but Bouchez and Regnier certainly qualify there; you can see the life in Bouchez's, and the cold resignation in Regnier's. This is an outstanding film.

An excellent human drama, highly recommended to those who like the genre.

[Jordiuly · 7/10 · 10 July 2007]

There are people who have not the lot to be born in a good family, with enough income to give to their children a life without difficulties and guarantee them a promising future. The people without this lot pass their days dreaming about a better life, a life in which don't have the need to search every night a bed to sleep, a life with a permanent job that assure enough income to don't care about the basic needs, a life to live not to suffer. But there are people able to keep going ahead, optimist people who can wake up every day with a smile, who are able to enjoy every little moment. But other people cannot take out from their mind the life that they want to have, the life with which they dream about every day. They do everything to reach that life, but they don't get it and they sink in a deeper pessimism that makes them live with sadness and disillusion. "La vie rêvée des anges" shows us the day by day of two young women in this situation. They either try to reach their dreamed life either try to enjoy the life they got. It is an excellent human drama, highly recommended to those who like the genre. Just the brilliant interpretation of both actresses makes the movie a must-see. In addition, the soundtrack is amazing; you must wait until the end of the movie to hear the unique song but it worth the wait.

"The Dreamlife of Angels," a Haunting Slice of Life that Features Acting At Its Finest

[writerasfilmcritic · 10/10 · 3 June 2007]

The reason to watch "The Dreamlife of Angels" is to see how an accomplished and talented actor makes a movie come to life and seem absolutely real, for that is what both Elodie Bouchez and Natasha Regnier achieve in this film. Which performance is better? Upon several viewings, one must conclude that it is a draw. Bouchez's Isa opens the film as a wandering street urchin searching for a warm place to spend the night in Lille, a town in northern France. You feel sorry for her because she has no one but herself upon which to depend and roams around trying to find a decent situation, but her appearance and behavior are a tad off-putting and you can understand why no one is falling all over themselves to help her out. Once she does land a place to live with her alienated and terminally pessimistic workmate, Marie, she begins to blossom, gradually at first, ultimately being transformed into a lovely, sensuous, introspective, and vastly intuitive young lady who is a pleasure to watch. The key to her transformation is the security she has found, her budding friendship with Marie, and the comatose patient, Sandrine, whose apartment they share while she is in the hospital recovering from the accident that killed her mother. For the helpless Sandrine, Isa fully expresses her generous, optimistic nature, and with her care and attention, ultimately saves the girl's life. Sandrine, for her part, has given Isa exactly what she needs -- a secure place to live, the companionship it provides in housemate, Marie, and someone worse off than she had been who needs her help to survive.

The high point of the film is one scene between Isa and Marie, wherein the two young women are discussing Isa's relationship with Sandrine after she confesses that she found the comatose patient's diary and had read it to her aloud in the hospital, hoping to wake her up. More than at any other point in the movie, we now see how beautiful these two "unexceptional" girls really are, the depth of their characters, and the poignance of their perceptions, despite their youth. Watch Bouchez's facial expressions closely. This naturally attractive actress is so subtle, but no doubt the cameraman should be given some of the credit, too, for it is he or she who captured it all on film.

Regnier's performance is of an entirely different sort. She is such a sad young woman, so full of anger, pride, dignity, and spirit but utterly defeated by the world going in. She fully understands and appreciates the scope of its cruelty and has almost resigned herself to never being happy, yet she keeps trying. The last time she tries is when she pins all her remaining hopes on the stinking, arrogant little bastard, Chris, whose perennially smug expression practically demands a well-deserved punch in the face. He is the quintessential spoiled brat who has been totally sheltered from the seamier realities of life and always gets what he wants (or he will throw a tantrum). I've known many people of this sort, for they are an all-too-common breed, and am always appalled at the depths to which they will sink, their absence of shame, and the complete lack of insight they possess concerning the simplest of life's enduring truths. Nevertheless, they populate this earth like a bunch of selfish, sadistic cyborgs, ruthlessly dominating the less-advantaged and the underprivileged in the pursuit of shallow (if widely-recognized) achievements, seeking relief from the inevitable pressures they encounter with transient, ephemeral pleasures. They remain convinced that their money, their homes, their cars, their jobs, and their "perfect" children somehow totally define their worth, which of course, just ain't so, yet at any suggestion of this inconvenient fact, they may become truly dangerous and are capable of almost any turnabout or betrayal, however low and despicable. This "winner" Chris, therefore, is a corrupted, suppurating sore on the ass of humanity, although nobody but the "losers" Isa and Marie have the guts to put him in his place. Unfortunately, Marie falls in love with him, despite her knowledge of what a crumb he is, and is thus rendered powerless to defend herself against his predatory nature, sacrificing herself in his stead. Isa finally rebukes him soundly for the thoughtless way he has toyed with Marie's emotions before casting her aside. Like a total coward, he actually expects Isa to inform Marie that their affair has ended because he cannot face her, and the slap he receives is little more than a slap on the wrist. He slinks away wearing the same stupid, self-satisfied grin we have come to expect. In the scenes where Marie seeks his company, knowing full well that she likely will be taken down yet another notch, the distraught, pained look in her childlike eyes is intense. Probably her best scene is when her competition, a pretty but shallow French snob (the sort of conceited blonde tart one used to see in ski lodges flirting with the owner), dares to insult her right in front of Chris. Marie suddenly jumps her and gives her the all-too-brief ass-kicking she so richly deserves. Regnier is dead-on as the spirited, take-no-sh** Marie and her untimely demise is very sad. At least Isa, who isn't so proud about what she must do to make a meager living) is able to carry on, and just before Regnier is sacrificed, Sandrine emerges from her coma and is going to live. The ending is therefore mixed but hopeful, and a haunting song is played as Isa starts a new, more promising job and the credits roll.

This is a poignant movie that demands repeated viewings.

by the end it is captivating

[Embley · 6/10 · 20 September 2000]

i almost gave up on this one, but i am glad i did not. i thought both girls were very good - very interesting characters well portrayed. the plot was simple enough and camera work and art direction were decent.

by the end the film really had grabbed me and it stayed with me for days. i have thought about it many times since. i don't think it is a fantastic film, but any film that gets into a person's head like that is worth seeing so i would recommend it.

French do it better

[gelobter · 10/10 · 4 February 2003]

This film confirms my long-held suspicion that their films are the best. They may not make as much money as US films but at least they offer something of substance. Clearly, this is not a feel-good movie. And no, it's not about beautiful people living ostentatiously in palatial houses and wearing designer colthes. It's about the real life of two normal people and, although that might not appear to be a recipe for a particularly fascinating film, I was enthralled. It is so rare nowadays to see a films that conveys emotions and human relationships so powerfully and I have no hesitation in putting this film in my short list of the best I've seen in recent years.

In detail, two girls whose lives are drifting nowhere are staying rent-free in the flat of a family all but one of whom have been killed in a car accident. One of the girls has a family background that we never learn more about but which is clearly unhappy. She pins her hopes on a rich boyfriend whose father owns the nightclub they frequent. The other girl is more of a thoughtful type and becomes obsessed with the only survivor from the car accident whom she regularly visits in hospital, where she is lying in a deep coma. The girls' lives start to take different directions, their relationship breaks down and one of them starts to lose her mind. Any further detail would spoil the plot but the final scene shows one of the girls working in a clean and efficient-looking factory which is in marked contrast to the tacky sweat shop where the girls were working at the beginning of the film. For all the tragedy, the film's message is ultimately one of hope: however hard life is, don't give up.

An excellent French people/reality film.

[=G= · 7/10 · 19 January 2001]

"Dreamlife..." is an award winning, much heralded, French people-flick shot in the typical austere Euro docudrama dogma-esque style. The film peers deeply into a short period in the lives of two footloose and broke young women who come together out of mutual need. A study in human nature sans the commercialism of Hollywood, "Dreamlife..." is an earnest and well constructed over-the-shoulder look at the principals very different character which will be most enjoyed by those into reality/people films.

Endearing, but savage, heart-rending story

[khatcher-2 · 8/10 · 24 September 2005]

This touching and compelling story is another one of those films which year after year drive me further and further away from Bollywood pot-boilers. In Europe we make films: in Hollywood they make spectacle turn-gate busters. This is a simple but sensitive story of two girls somewhat adrift in life, somewhat lost in the hopes for life, somewhat floating from day to day without much to go on or go by. But so refreshingly and carefully enacted and directed: Eric Zonca is indeed one of those directors who put great power into simple stories, so that the resulting film is captivating, beyond the story per se. Here is excellent European theatre, among the best. Mixing tragic moments with joyful experiences, mixing friendship in the deepest human values. "La Vie rêvée des anges" is a film for the intelligent and sensitive viewer who wants to see real life human drama at ground level.

If you like this film, do not miss Fernando León de Aranoa's "Princesas" (2005)(qv).

how to deal and to improve one's life in a gritty environment

[dbdumonteil · 7/10 · 18 June 2006]

For a long time, French cinema had the bias to choose to overlook the marginalized, the social misfits who have trouble to struggle and to fit in a society. In the nineties, some French filmmakers began to get interested in these categories of ill-fated ones as Erick Zonca's tale bears witness. His chronicle of these two friends facing the harsh economic, social realities together was bestowed with prizes in 1998, 1999, especially at the Cannes festival where it was one of the jury's favorites. French public and press specialized in cinema gave it an ovation and the film enjoys a favorable reputation abroad, rather rightly so.

The director's forte is to showcase and to assess the persona of his two young interprets. At first sight, they're a mismatched pair that everything opposes and brings together. Isabelle (Elodie Bouchez): a 20 year-old young woman who brims with energy and generosity, ready to accept any job not to get bogged down in poverty including to distribute advertising leaflets on roller skates dressed in "sandwich-woman". Beside her, Marie (Natacha Régnier), bilious, mercurial dissimilar to her sidekick (to put it mildly). Apart from the liking she feels for Isabelle and their friendship is a touch of light in this drab city, she's her complete antipode. She can't put up with her distressing condition, she's rather in bad terms with her mother. She even shows total egocentricity because she doesn't even go to a lot of trouble to visit her cousin Sandrine in a coma and whose mother died shortly after wards. A consequence to her profound discontentment and to her inability to come to terms with her social condition. Maybe an exit to this life for her would be to live with Chris, a rich kid with a more than comfortable living standards. She has a crush on him but the latter treats her like a ghostly girl.

Erick Zonca's chronicle is composed of two parts. The first half is nearly faultless and a prime one from every angle. The director tries to capture short-term moments of bliss when the two friends are together and there's a communicative "feel-good" vibe. Zonca also deftly eschews what could make caricatured some characters like the ruffian-like bouncers. The second part veers to a doom-laden turn which even if it serves the title of the film and Marie also makes it formulaic. From the moment when Marie is enamored of Chris, the audience has to expect the inevitable. Marie's love for Chris jeopardizes her friendship with Isabelle who is very aware that Marie's lover considers her as a casual lover and leads her up the garden path. So, almost adamant feuds break out between Isa and Marie who don't manage to calmly communicate face to face. Zonca steers his film according to what the audience expects and the poise that the film created in the first half is damaged and not well dovetailed as a whole. The interest tends to dwindle and Mr Zonca, I would have liked more unexpected, less easiness but fortunately the communicative vitality, the acting full of spontaneity of the two main actresses largely stop you from dismissing this piece of work.

I don't want to be a major spoiler and pour out the end. I will just say that it encompasses an upbeat, placating whiff thanks to a song discerningly chosen. "La Vie Rêvée Des Anges" is worth a watch thanks essentially to the two actresses whose performances boosted their careers. Natacha Régnier was venturesome to agree to hold difficult or trying roles later as in François Ozon's disquieting "les Amants Criminels" (1999).

An Interesting Mess

[jll · 5/10 · 20 April 1999]

I went in hoping that all the good things I had heard about this movie were justified. Unfortunately, they weren't. Though "Dream Life of Angels" has an interesting premise and starts out promisingly enough, bad pacing and a meandering plot ultimately sinks it as a film.

The problem is not that nothing happens in it. Not all that much happens in "Bicycle Thief" either, but the latter film is a masterpiece because the individual scenes in it add up to something much greater than themselves. The scenes of "Dream Life", however, have no such coherence. Lasting only a few minutes each, their arrangement seems arbitrary, as little plot or character development occur in any of them. This soon begins to wear on the viewer, and halfway into the film I was already beginning to feel the back of my seat.

Not helping matters either is the unimaginative way with which the story (what little of it there is) is told. Marie's seduction and abandonment by Chris, a callous, young club-owner, is shown without much originality, spark or pathos. Perhaps if music had been used some of these weaknesses could have been hidden. But none comes till the end, at which point it seems incongruous. One may admire "Dream Life's" attempt to make art from the bleak lives of two young women, but that does not make it a great, or really even a good, film.

I disagree with your disagreement

[megankash · 10/10 · 1 May 2007]

This was one of the most moving, intimate, insightful movies I have seen in years. It is one that I have gone back to in my mind many, many times since.

I would recommend this movie to anyone and have in fact!

The final piece of music, the song "Rue des Cascade" by Claire Pichet is a fantastic piece of art. The music is emotional, gripping and flowing, I love it, but the ending with Claire's voice makes it all the more better, as her voice truly sounds like it came from the heavens!!

I think anyone who perhaps found it unenlightning, trite or dull the first time around would do themselves an injuistice to not go back to give it a second chance!

Wonderful romantic drama a la Kundera

[jacques · 10/10 · 13 October 1998]

A very strong movie, concentrated on the lives of two girls who share an apartment. One of the girls, Marie, is one of the most dramatic characters I've ever seen in a movie : she falls in love with a man who only uses her - she realises this but cannot resist him despite herself. The other girl, Isa, gets entangled in Marie's life. The story reminded me of the atmosphere of 'the unbearable lightness of being' of Kundera (the book rather than the movie). An additional strong point of the movie is the very persuasive acting.

La Vie Rêvée Des Anges

[tobiemh · 14 November 2006]

'La Vie Rêvée Des Anges' set in Lille, France, is in essence a film depicting the beginning and ending of a friendship. We are first introduced to one of the two main characters as a homeless, young girl who has come to Lille, looking for a friend. Hearing that the friend has left Lille, she has no choice but to survive on the street. She is fortunate to find a job at a sewing factory, where she meets Marie (the second main character). This friendship, albeit rather reluctant at first on the part of Marie is the basis for the storyline of the film.

As the film progresses we see that it is not Marie who is the stronger person, and the sensible decision maker, but in fact it is Isa, the girl who goes from job to job with a very care-free attitude to life. Isa proves to be realistic, perspicacious and anxious to open Marie's eyes to her self-destruction and in a way opens the audience's eyes. Marie's poor decision of not being able to refuse the man to whom she is attracted, eventually leads to a calamitous relationship where Chriss uses her and this in turn leads to the outcome of the film and the breaking of the friendship between Isa and Marie.

The director purposefully uses hand-held cameras, natural lighting, real and natural sets and few sound effects and music (the only music track is in the last couple of minutes) to create the film's intended atmosphere. In a way this dogma-style film-making could be a way to emphasise the freedom in the lives of the two main characters. Together, Isa and Marie enjoy not conforming to the everyday roles of society. The natural way by which the characters live their lives is conveyed to the audience through the use of natural techniques in the filming itself. And perhaps the only music track to appear in the film, is a way of creating a dream- like (giving the film its title) atmosphere at the end of the film, in contrary to the natural techniques of filming which have been up to this point. The death of Marie could possible be a way of showing us the strength in Isa, who is able to carry on her life and find another job, just as before, or in turn it could just be that there are only two choices in their lives – to conform (like Isa in the end) or not to conform to society (essentially like Marie).

Having said that, perhaps another intention of using this natural-like film technique is so that the director does not judge the lives of the two characters, but instead leaves it up to the audience to be the judge.

From the aggressive and homicidal nature of Marie's character, to the calm and untroubled life of Isa, these contrasts placed together in a film have a great chance of leaving an impact on the viewer, and all in all make it an good and engaging film to watch.

Certainly no feel-good movie

[philip_vanderveken · 7/10 · 6 June 2005]

French movies are always different from any other cinema. They don't look like the average Hollywood production, but even though they are European, they can't really be compared to other European movies either, except for the English perhaps. The style of the French and English cinema aren't the same, but the subjects often are. Most of the time you'll get the story of people who have a hard time making the best of their lives, who live in poverty or bad conditions,... You'll not really find that as much in other countries like for instance Denmark, Spain, Italy,... in Asia or the USA.

"La Vie rêvée des anges" or "The Dreamlife of Angels", as it is called in English, tells the story of two young women, Marie and Isabelle, who meet each other in a sweatshop, where they have to operate sewing machines. Marie is apartment-sitting for a mother and her daughter who are in a hospital and in a coma after they had a terrible accident. Isabelle has been living with her backpack on her back, not knowing where she will end up the next day and sometimes selling handmade cards on street corners to earn a little money. Both have a difficult life and that's perhaps the only thing that really keeps both girls together. They find joy and adventure in one another's company, but sometimes also have incredible fights because their worlds are too far away from each other...

If you are looking for a movie that will leave you with a good feeling after you've seen it, than you better start looking for another one. This film has a heavy subject and especially the ending will make you swallow a couple of times. I'm not going to tell you what that ending exactly is, but in my opinion it was the strongest part of the movie and one of the toughest, but also most touching endings I've seen in a movie in recent times. For me personally the rest of the story was certainly worth watching, but not always very original. I've seen it in more movies, but that doesn't mean of course that it can't be any good.

The acting certainly is nice. The two leading actresses didn't get a Golden Palm in Cannes for nothing for this movie and I can understand perfectly why the jury decided to give Élodie Bouchez as well as Natacha Régnier a reward. It's impossible to say that the one was so much better than the other, both gave away a strong performance.

As a conclusion I want to say that if you are looking for a feel-good movie, this certainly isn't what you are looking for, but if you are looking for a movie with a good subject and some strong acting than you might give it a try. Despite the fact that the story isn't the most original one ever, the movie stands firm on its feet and that's why I give it a 7/10.

What it takes to survive

[dancopp · 8/10 · 27 August 2006]

Yes, the acting is superb, both the leads: the footloose, free-spirit Isa and the angry and erratic Marie. Also the supporting cast: the fat-boy bouncer and the rich-boy cad.

What's available to young women cast out of the nest? How does one survive the winters as a homeless person in the northern France? Mind-numbing factory work is available. But where to live, and how to find the community that homo sapiens need to be mentally healthy? We learn what it takes to survive. Isa has great resources; she's an extrovert and has a genuine concern for others. She finds community with a most unlikely person. Poor Marie, wanly beautiful, is withdrawn and suspicious; one must intrude forcibly to get beyond her defenses. And yet she's careless. So faced with the same chances, one woman finds psychic sustenance while the other stumbles into despair.

A Simple Story of Friendship

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 6 July 2023]

The drifter Isabelle 'Isa' Tostin (Élodie Bouchez) travels to Lille to meet her former boyfriend but he has traveled to Belgium. She looks for a job since she has no money in a clothing factory, and befriends Marie Thomas (Natacha Régnier), who also works in the factory. Despite their differences of behavior, they become friends. Marie is taking care of an apartment, whose owners have had a car accident, and Isa stays with her in the place until the day that a tragedy happens.

"La vie rêvée des anges", a.k.a. "The Dreamlife of Angels", is a French film with a simple story of friendship between two working class young women with no perspective in life. Marie is impulsive, promiscuous and emotionally unstable while Isa is more rational and conservative. When their worlds collide, there is a tragedy and Isa moves on. The performances of Élodie Bouchez and Marie Thomas are top notch. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Vida Sonhada dos Anjos" ("The Dreamlife of the Angels")

A film that resonates

[WilliamCKH · 10/10 · 8 April 2007]

I sometimes find that universal subjects, such as love and friendship are rendered much more honestly when the characters are poor or at least not well off, in terms of money, family,..so forth. They seem to be naked in the face of reality, not able to hide behind an artifice. Because both Isa and Marie are alone and poor, their friendship feels like it is luxury in their lives, not something just to pass the time until something better comes along.

I get the sense that this is Isa's story and that Marie's friendship was a stop for her, another chapter to a tumultuous life. That her life will be series of tragedies and joys, and that it is neither good or bad, just reality.

I don't understand those who call this a depressing movie. It is a beautiful, life-affirming movie about real people dealing with real situations.

French Character Study, Both Funny And Sad

[hokeybutt · 6/10 · 22 September 2004]

THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS (3 outta 5 stars)

Quirky French comedy-drama about two young single girls who strike up a friendship and share the task of apartment-sitting for another girl who is laying comatose in a hospital. Isa is the independent but sensitive girl who goes to visit the comatose girl... becoming attached to her while reading her journals. Marie finds her comfort in the company of men... she falls for a handsome but no-good young womanizer, but dumps the fat, loyal musician who loves her. Very good character study in the French tradition of Eric Rohmer and Francois Truffaut. (If you admire the work of those two French auteurs then this movie is for you. If not, then maybe you'll want to pass.)

Realistic One of the Best of 1998!

[Faisal_Flamingo · 9/10 · 21 November 2006]

Real life is no sweet dream .. it is a painful struggle to many people.

Real life is harder even to women .. this movie realistically shows how rough life can be through two young women point of view .. it is a world of materialism that doesn't care about the human being needs.

I don't know what else can I say about it? .. it is too simple to be described in words .. beside I don't want to spoil it for the readers. I think European movies in general care much more than Hollywood about the characters .. especially French movies.

Élodie Bouchez & Natacha Régnier.. were truly amazing and they gave a high class performances It is realistic & absolutely one of the best in 1998 .. don't miss, it is a very good movie.

Low-key and emotionally wrenching drama exploring the lives of two people occupying the lower-levels of society, amidst everything the world throws at them.

[johnnyboyz · 7/10 · 24 May 2011]

The Dreamlife of Angels begins with a wandering young girl turning up at the home of somebody she through she knew, only to find them vacant in that they have gone on a placement abroad. The young girl carries with her a large backpack in a physical sense, that worn look of tiredness and travel all over her face in a more literal sense; there is a feeling for that of journeying, of vast journeying across the length and breadth of a nation, indeed Continent, that has imbued her life along up to this point along with what appears as rather a large network of contacts that have been born out of that. This dwelling here and now may very well be the home to one of them, but the contact and the keeping up of appearances with these people is so few and far between, such is the manner in which these people exist, that knowing precisely where one might be at certain times is impossible – in the young woman's world, people are situated at a place; move along and then relocate somewhere else after any duration of time. Cast away and rejected from staying there by the elderly woman actually inhabiting the house, the young woman's exasperated glance at the world behind her as she turns, additionally into us given where the camera's situated, encapsulates a desolate feeling of now having to resume looking for something that doesn't necessarily exit – to try and get by however she can given this revelation: she is back on the road.

The lead is named Isabelle (Bouchez), a woman in her mid-twenties based in France travelling along in the world and getting by on the money she earns out of selling postcards on the street to people, that she herself creates from images plagiarised from magazines. Having failed to find respective dwelling, she turns her interests to the nearby city of Lillie in this: northern France; in a certain way, somewhat refreshingly so in the sense that to have a film of The Dreamlife of Angels' ilk, complete with the aesthetic that it carries, play out in the locale of somewhere such as Lille rather than the more familiarised option somewhere like Paris, is quite pleasant. In Lille a chance interaction with a middle aged Yugoslav, whom runs a sweat shop with his wife, sees Isabelle employed as a seamstress and placed in a makeshift room rife with women doing little all day but sew. Isabelle does not get on particularly well with this scenario, the new zone in which she finds herself one that is rife with an apparent segregation of women into neat rows and lines, each of which are charged with conforming and achieving the same thing that grossly goes against what it was established Isabelle lives for, that is to say; operating as a free spirited and independent person.

It is here the film will have her meet the equally young Marie (Régnier); their relationship bedding the film down and seeing it effectively change gears after having previously come across as a project feeding off of a framework more routed to an approach that sees a lone protagonist stumble through proceedings and just getting by, perhaps something in the vein of Mike Leigh's film from a few years previously entitled Naked. Isabelle moves in with Marie, both women on the same respective level in life as they strive to get by with menial jobs on whatever budget; the premise of Marie's occupancy of the apartment hanging over proceedings in that it itself is rife with a sort of deadline - her current occupying of it born out of it being made vacant by a friend of her aunt's, whom lies alone comatose in a nearby hospital following a car crash – the notion of her waking up at any time and thus forcing the two women out again overbearing things.

There is the initial fun and frolics that come with two such women hooking up and enjoying one another's company; the charm in going out and causing a nuisance of themselves in the evenings eventually leading to an attempted illegal entry to that of a concert; the tampering with richer French person's cars and the constant looking for male partners, each unravelling on their first proper night out together in what is a childish but innocent enough display of escapism from their everyday lives. Given what transpires, we get the feeling these two can trust each other as they strive towards a respective longer term goal; their bonds leading on into some rather inhospitable territory as this trust and these building blocks of a friendship are constructed before being somewhat cruelly knocked down again. Principally, the rift in their bond sees Isabelle rear off to sympathise with one of the comatose apartment owners after obtaining the rather personal item of their diary; Marie's going off to chase a rich womaniser named Chriss (Colin), whom drives his own plush automobile when they must travel by bus and utilises money both ignorantly and carelessly as they strive to get by, is symptomatic of each woman's need to take up a duty in aiding or obsessing over them after having previously been helped out by their intervention. The writer/director of the film, a certain Erick Zonca whom it is in the larger spectrum of opinion has not gone on to match what he does here, displays ample ability in capturing the essence of both natural conversation and mutual appreciation; the film one rich in acting as well as specific nihilist tonal qualities, all of which results in a meritorious piece worth catching.

Write that in your diary, Isa!

[film-critic · 3/10 · 3 May 2007]

Oddly, as you look at prior reviews for this film, there are many that speak very highly about this film. Not surprisingly, I cannot see why. It is French, which shouldn't garnish the praise just because it is in a different language (at times, foreign language films get praise for just being foreign), the story itself is as bland as white bread with butter, and finally our two main characters bring nothing refreshing to the table. "La Vie Revee Des Anges" transforms before your eyes into an over-hyped sub-par film about the French depression and the absurd nature of the woman's choice. As you can see, I had trouble with this film. I didn't know what to expect when it began, but I wanted to be impressed. I wanted to see phenomenal acting coupled with a story that best represented the imaginative title, but alas, nothing of the sort occurred. Here is what I saw for nearly 113 minutes: a homeless woman travels through France cheating some out of their money. She happens to find work at a sewing factory, but ends up loosing her job – not before she meets Marie, a woman of the same vein, who become closer friends. I would argue that a friendship does not blossom, but instead two people searching for something different happen to stay under the same roof. The homeless woman, Isa, convinces Marie that she can say, and the two attempt to share the times of their lives. Surprisingly, they share different values and visions, so when two men enter their lives, they react differently. Then, when a random third enters, he is used to gain sympathy and skewed views from the audience. He is the flint to this fire, but again, it just doesn't gain enough flame. In the end, an event occurs that is meant to shock and evoke tears, but between the lines of boredom, it just garnishes a yawn followed by excitement that the ending credits were drawing near.

I don't want to sound too pessimistic about this film, it had potential. I think director Erick Zonca can control his actors as well as give us haunting images, but when handed a struggling story, it is obvious that he cannot maintain. My biggest issue with this film is that random events occurred to two complete strangers. There was a point in this film where Zonca attempted to connect Isa and Marie as "friends", but as the film continues, I can never see them as such. These two women, prior to working at the same place, never knew each other, yet instantly they were to live together and have a connection. Suddenly, they are "dating" two men, and anger ensues when a third becomes a part of the picture. We were missing some scenes in between that would allow us to see a stronger connection. We needed to see conflict and resolution prior to the ending, or perhaps a stronger story about both of them prior to their first meeting to really have us understand these two. I was bored, these characters brought nothing to the table. Randomly, near the center of the film, Isa begins to visit this other complete stranger – of which Zonca immediately demands that we feel sympathy for. What this film transforms into is Zonca throwing random events, that with strengthening stories, would cause any audience member to tear up, but there isn't time for the details, so we eventually ... hum ... get lost in translation.

I think our two actresses would have been strong contestants in this film, had the story not been in shambles. I cannot fault the actresses, though a stronger voice between them would have been helpful. Marie's love interest falls prey again to someone who we, as an audience, don't know anything about. The brief snippets of information that we are handed in this film, does not give us enough to make our own judgment. He is portrayed, wrongly in my eyes, as the villain, but for me, it was just another case of not knowing enough to make the assumption. This is the argument that I have with the relationship between Isa and Marie. We don't know enough, they don't know enough about themselves to really pass judgment. When Marie makes the choice to be with the more dominate male in the film, Isa passes judgment – how could she? Did she know enough about the past of Marie or Marie in general to do so? I think not, how could she, we didn't get that satisfaction. So, this annoyed me throughout the film. Characters I didn't even know well enough, were passing judgment on others that nobody new well enough. It was rather embarrassing.

Overall, I focused mainly on the characters of this film as my most irritable moment because I wanted to like these Isa and Marie, but not enough was given to us for anyone to relate to the realizations or hardships. I agree that quite a bit of poverty was happening in France during this time, but again, Zonca could have established this a bit further with a bit more detail. Detail was the lacking element which lead to the downfall of this film. The moments with Isa and Marie could have been heightened with more detail, the scenes with Isa in the hospital could have been more developed, and the final scene could have had such a delivered impact if only we cared. I didn't care about Isa or Marie by the end, and that is why I am bitter about the film. The French have made such amazingly strong films, that this one came as a surprise. I cannot suggest it – nor shall I.

Write that in your diary, Isa!

Grade: ** out of *****