La vie rêvée des anges
The Dreamlife of Angels is a movie about friendship, more particularly it traces the beginnings and ending of a friendship between two women, who come together because each is do different from the other and each needs what the other has to offer. That is at the beginning. Dreamlife is one tough movie and it won't be easy going for those who wince at seeing a basically good person in the throes of a self-destructive frenzy, one, in this case, set off by an unhealthy S&M flavored relationship she strikes up with an oily Lothario (a sleaze you'll hate upon sight). Elodie Bouchez plays Isa(as in -bel) a wandering soul who blows into a dreary industrial town in Northern France, where she wrangles a job in a sweat shop, from which this free-spirit is quickly fired, but not before striking up an instant friendship with Marie, who is as introverted and emotionally constipated as Isa is open, carefree, and loving. While the director, Erick Zonca, underlines nothing, we understand the basis of the friendship and watch as it develops, and the two women bond, even to the point of playing, kidlike, together (no challenge for Isa, but it takes some letting go for Marie).
I am not sure how to assess the film critically. I know this: It is one of the few of late that has stayed with me long after I finished. Did I believe the ending? No. Did I buy Marie's fate? No. Did I quite understand who were the angels and who the dreamers? Yes, and that is for you to find out, although the answer is far from what you might expect (thus baffling both critics and some viewers). It is brilliantly photographed and in a near documentary style that lends it weight and resonance. A masterpiece? Who knows.
