The Dreamlife of Angels

THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS (1998) ***1/2

Reviewed 4/12/99

Élodie Bouchez and Natacha Régnier shared a well-deserved Best Actress award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for The Dreamlife of Angels, the debut film of 42-year old director Erick Zonca. Bouchez plays Isa, a homeless 20-year old trying to eke out a living selling self-made cards. One of her potential customers offers her a job sewing in his factory. There Isa meets Marie (Régnier), whom Isa talks into letting her stay in the apartment Marie is house-sitting. The two become close friends as they move from job to job and date two club bouncers, Charly (Patrick Mercado) and Fredo (Jo Prestia). The club owner, Chris (Grégoire Colin), saves Marie from a shoplifting incident, and Marie falls for him despite Isa's discouragement.

The apartment Marie watches over was owned by a mother and daughter who were in a car crash. The mother has died and the daughter is in a coma. Isa slowly becomes more involved with the daughter, first reading her diary, then visiting her in the hospital. As the value of life heightens for Isa, the delusion of love begins shattering Marie.

Zonca brings a cinema verite style to The Dreamlife of Angels, including using a handheld camera. D.P. Agnes Godard does a remarkable job with her natural compositions. Her style suits this character-driven story well by never taking the focus off of the actors. Coincidentally, Godard lensed the Claire Denis film Nenette et Boni, which also starred Grégoire Colin.

The relationships in the film are just the means Zonca uses to explore the hopes and dreams of working class women. Isa's and Marie's jobs are humiliating, but sprightly Isa makes the most of them without hesitation. Marie, on the other hand, disdains them, seeing herself as better than this. Marie's dropping of overweight but sincere Charly for the wealthy lothario, Chris, reflects her misguided ego.

The beauty of Dreamlife is that Zonca and his actors allow us to generalize from Isa and Marie's experiences while simultaneously making them consummate individuals. Bouchez, particularly is striking, though she is helped by playing the more sympathetic character. Still, her performance makes us feel we really know Isa intimately as a friend, and I for one, was saddened to leave her when the film ended.