The Dreamlife of Angels ( La Vie rêvée des anges ) ( The Daydreams of Angels )

The Dreamlife of Angels (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: La Vie rêvée des anges
Alternate Title: The Daydreams of Angels
Screened, competed or awarded at:
British Independent Film Awards
Cannes Film Festival
Ceasar Awards
European Film Awards
Stockholm Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
113 min

Aspect Ratio:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Filmographies
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 1998 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )

Directed By:
Erick Zonca

Written By:
Erick Zonca
Roger Bohbot

Actors:
Élodie Bouchez ..... Isabelle 'Isa' Tostin
Natacha Régnier ..... Marie Thomas
Grégoire Colin ..... Chriss
Patrick Mercado ..... Charly
Jo Prestia ..... Fredo
Francine Massenhave ..... La gardienne
Zivko Niklevski ..... Le patron Yougoslave
Murielle Colvez ..... Le chef d'atelier
Lyazid Ouelhadj ..... Le vendeur de billets
Frédérique Hazard ..... La mère de Marie
Jean-Michel Lemayeux ..... L'interne
Louise Motte ..... Sandrine
Rosa Maria ..... La première infirmière
Corinne Masiero ..... La femme du Hollywood
Xavier Denamur ..... L'homme des patins

Synopsis:

42-year-old Erick Zonca first gained international success with this chronicle of a tenuous friendship between two young women in northern France. Élodie Bouchez and Natacha Régnier shared the Best Actress award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for their work as the two directionless girls, who find romance and meager work as the situations arise. Zonca uses the two characters as representatives of the kinds of positive and negative emotional choices that affect people for the rest of their lives: while Bouchez's Isa shows an affinity for neglected, sensitive souls like herself, Régnier's Marie deepens her wounds by taking up with men who reinforce her low sense of self-worth. Régnier's short-fused performance commands immediate attention, but it's Bouchez's delicate, reserved compassion that makes the film worth seeing. Zonca is an affectionate but distanced director; events in the film occur with an unhurried authenticity. Though the film's technical achivements are minimal -- the jump cuts, hand-held camerawork, and improvised feel are all lifted from the French New Wave -- its weighty emotional content and the compelling screen presence of the two leads made it something of an art-house sensation.

Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier both won 'Best Actress' honors at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival in this naturalistic drama about two women alienated from mainstream society. After a trio of short films, this is the feature directorial debut of 41-year-old French filmmaker Erick Zonca. With opening scenes reminiscent of Agnes Varda's Vagabond (1985), optimistic hobo Isa (Bouchez), with her life in her backpack, has a gritty existence on the road, going from one town to another through northern France, working factory jobs and selling cards. After she loses a garment-factory job, her withdrawn, near-catatonic co-worker Marie (Regnier) lets Isa share space in her Lille living quarters -- an apartment actually belonging to a hospitalized mother and daughter. Marie begins an affair with burly bouncer Charly (Patrick Mercado) before achieving an emotional breakthrough with sleazy, animalistic club-owner Chriss (Gregoire Colin). Meanwhile, Isa becomes fascinated with the girl who lived in the apartment but now lies in a coma at the hospital. The film combines handheld camerawork with a minimalist music score (Yann Thiersen) and documentary-like street sounds.

In Lille, two penniless young women with few prospects become friends. Isa moves in with Marie, who's flat-sitting for a mother and child in hospital in comas following a car crash. Isa is out-going, unskilled, with hopes of moving south to warmer climes. Marie usually is either angry or detached. Then, while Isa begins to visit the child in whose flat they live, going to hospital to read to her, Marie slowly falls for a rich youth. At first Marie keeps him at bay, then she not only pursues him, she begins to dream he is her life's love. When Isa tries to warn Marie, their friendship flounders. How will Marie handle the inevitable? And once they lose the flat, where will they go?

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 16 December, 2005.

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