THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS
(French with English subtitles)
"The Dreamlife of Angels" has already won several international awards and Cesars (the French Oscar) for Best French Picture, Actress, and Most Promising Young Actress so I was eager to see it. At it’s core, the movie is a French working class chick flick.
At first I was drawn into "Dreamlife" by the bubbly personality of twentyish Isa (Elodie Bouchez) who blows into the town of Lille without a penny to her name hoping to find refuge with a male acquaintance who has moved on. Her impish smile and cheery disposition land her a job as an assembly line seamstress. She is reluctantly befriended by Marie (Natacha Regnier), a co-worker who agrees to share her digs. The apartment actually belongs to a friend who was hospitalized along with her daughter because of an auto accident. Their uncertain future affects Marie’s living arrangement. Isa is fired for incompetence - sewing machines are not her thing. Marie quits - she’s bored. It doesn’t take long to realize they are total opposites. Isa is upbeat. Marie is a downer. Together, they take odd jobs, search out a frugal night life, and carouse with a couple of likeable bouncers one of whom takes a genuine interest in Marie. Unfortunately, she develops a thing for his boss when he bails her out of a jam. At first she plays hard to get but finally gives in. He could be her next meal ticket. The relationship is a recipe for disaster.
The style of "Dreamlife" has a quasi-documentary feel that makes snippets of the girls’ lives seem to pass by in real time. Everything about the young women is revealed by their reaction to the workplace, their boyfriends, and to each other. Isa externalizes her thoughts and ideas. She is constantly trying to connect with an impervious world. For her, Marie’s apartment is a wonderland full of the details of lives lived. For Marie, it’s just a place to live. In a few of the more spooky moments, Isa explores the bedroom belonging to the young accident victim in the hospital. She finds the girl’s diary and becomes entranced with the contents. Isa visits the comatose girl and reads to her, hoping to connect with her subconscious. Sensing failure, she begins to write her own thoughts and feelings in the girl’s diary to fill the void. Where Isa is active, Marie is passive. When Isa reaches out, Marie pulls back. Marie internalizes everything. She is too busy sorting out her own problems to deal with anyone else’s. She often mistakes gentility for weakness and force for strength. While Isa’s background remains shrouded in mystery, the unannounced arrival of Marie’s mother provides the one clue to her melancholy personality. She is an omen of what Marie could become - a fate worse than….
Once Isa’s and Marie’s destinies are plotted out, the dissipation of their assorted relationships becomes inevitable. Director, Erick Zonka seems to be striving for an emotional punch that never delivers. A key moment that is intended to shock and surprise does neither. However, he redeems himself with a scene reminiscent of the closing moments in "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner," a British landmark film of the sixties. Isa is seen as part of a homogeneous working class in much the same way Tom Courtney’s character is depicted in a reform school. They are both victims of their class. Isa reverts to the numbing task of getting on with life in a job that is bound to stifle her imagination. The dream life of this angel ends and reality begins.
Suggested Video Pix
Some French female bonding flicks from Diane Kurys - because I couldn’t help but think about how "The Dreamlife of Angels" would have turned out with a woman behind the camera. (All have English subtitles.)
"Peppermint Soda" (1977) - Kury’s autobiographical coming of age film before France’s 1968 student rebellion.
Cocktail Molotov (1980) - Young teens come of age during France’s 1968 student rebellion
"Entre Nous" (1983) - Said to be a biographical sketch of Kurys’ mother. The story centers around a friendship between two women that transcends their marital problems through the years. With Miou Miou and Isabelle Huppert. P.S: I thought Natacha Regnier from "Dreamlife" bore a striking resemblance to Ms. Huppert.
"C’est La Vie" (1990) - Nathalie Baye and Julie Bataille are mother and daughter in another variation of Diane Kury’s exploration of female relationships.
Some other French films that came to mind. (Also with English subtitles.)
"Wild Reeds" (1994) Dir. Andre Techine. Elodie Bouchez plays one of several students coming of age in rural area affected by events in Algeria in 1962. The explanation of a teacher’s political ambivalence through the brief introduction of another character prefigures Erick Zonca’s use of the same device to explain Marie’s personality in "The Dreamlife of Angels." This also won France’s prestigious Cesar for Best Picture.
"Going Places" (1974) Dir. Bertrand Blier. Gerard DePardieu and Patrick Dewaere as two nihilistic young hoods on the prowl to harass, steal, and screw anything they can get their hands on. If Isa were a truly bad girl, she could have easily been a female version of these two guys. More disturbingly funny than "Dreamlife."
"Toni" (1935) - Dir. Jean Renoir - Influential film told in the naturalist style that still has a resonance found in contemporary films like "The Dreamlife of Angels." A working class quarryman lives with one woman, falls in love with another, who runs off with someone else. Simple, direct, and emotionally honest. It occasionally shows up in Renoir retrospectives on local PBS or University networks.
.