Angel-A (2005)

Besson's intention by directing this movie was good. There is, it seemed to me, a big effort to make his film deep considering the discourse. It can be perceptible through the plenty of plays with symbols that are contained in it. The main problem is that by writing such dialogs, certain scenes seem too artificial and often too long. This has to be added to the fact that if you see the film in french, you"ll quickly notice that the dialogs that often concern both J Debbouze and Rie Rasmussen are more than sometimes incomprehensible and require a permanent attention to decipher them. Rie Rasmussen, even if she's quite a wonderful creature on a physical aspect, is however an average actress and the scenes that deal with emotions are spoiled -this is rather surprising considering Besson's job on The Professional- by a clumsy actor's direction. However cinematography by Thierry Arbogast is astounding and foreigners will find a wonderful black and white postcard of Paris as they'll see the movie. It is also regrettable that Besson didn't appeal to Eric Serra for the soundtrack. For Besson's defense, it must be said, I think, that his staff and himself have worked in such constraining circumstances to shot in Paris that the number of shots was counted and couldn't allow actors to give their full potential. This is the first time also that a director has full access to production and budget resources by himself so he can write a screenplay that does not have to be selected by instances like CNC allowing himself to direct a personal but too poorly "collaborative" project. Anyway, this is a film that has definitely to be seen.

Fmovies: I must admit, I was worried. The first directorial effort by Luc Besson after 6 years, and Besson having produced (and written) movies in between that can IMHO be only described as crap. No need to worry however: Angel-A is simply a delightful film. Expertly framed by Thierry Arbogast it presents a very simply story in a genuinely funny and original way. Both Jamel Debbouze and Rie Rasmussen are perfectly cast and seem to be having a lot of fun playing their respective parts. While one could say that the general setup of the picture is hardly new, it really doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the film or the underlying story. The film doesn't present many twists and turns, the ending can be foreseen about halfway through the film. The joy of getting there however makes up for any of the afore mentioned problems.

Now, please Monsieur Besson: Don't make us wait 6 years for the next live-action picture!

I'm not a fan of the french cinema, but I liked the movie. I liked all the strange ideas of Luc Besson - there are no car-chases, no explosions, just a romantic drama.

The scenario, the cast, the play of the actors (the role of the nervous Andre is hard to be played, but Jamel Debbouze is a great choice, just like Rie Rasmussen with her infinite legs)...

It was too interesting for me that the film was shot early the morning, when the streets are empty and Angel-A and Andre are all alone in the beautiful black-and-white Paris (and world). If you don't like the movie, you can just relax and take an almost real voyage in Paris.

Angel-A fmovies. Angel-a can be described as a romantic comedy, as a movie about angels and as one about therapy. As a romantic comedy it is a good and charming film, which stands far away from the omnipresent and boring Hollywood romantic comedies. As a movie about angels it is not convincing, and the best it can be said in its favour is that the movie is an heterodox rendering of angels, half divine and half too-human.

But the best use that can be given to this film is to adopt it as a manual of cognitive or rational-emotive therapy. A well respected field within psychology, cognitive therapy looks for transforming distorted thinking, which it is said, affects the mood, the behaviour and the life of people. That is simply what Angel-a does with Andre, giving him reasons to love himself, and teaching him techniques to change the way he thinks or speaks of himself. If we go to cinema some times to enjoy ourselves and some times to bring something to our lives, this movie allows us to do both. Art and cinema have also ethical consequences -in the sense of Foucault- giving us clues about how to live our lives better. In this sense the best description of Angel-a is given above by Elizabeth Arthur when she says that this is "a film about learning to love yourself".

Only one question remains: Why a director like Besson, who has been making movies about violence, decides to read about cognitive therapy and bring angels to earth and make a film like this?

This film by Luc Besson, has almost.."everything"!!! The director,makes a story about two people-man and woman-who look so different from each other, just as black and white. She comes from the sky, while he comes from "human's hell", since he's being chased for money he owed, and has nowhere to go. As the movie goes on, the two of them will get closer to each other, just to find out that they were getting closer to...themselves! The film itself is in black and white, so that it allows you to see the contradiction between the two heroes, but in the same time it gives you a sense of mystery-something that it would never happen with a colored film. Though it is a film about love, it shows its real meaning, in a truly artistic way, just as a work of art would speak..In addition, as a film, you can not really categorize it, just as you can not do so for a work of art.It makes you laugh so many times, has moments of pain, moments you feel like crying, some action, in a few words:

It has everything life is made of. The director seems to me as if he knew exactly what he wanted, and made a wonderful movie about anyone who is still human, and therefore is able to love-himself first-another person.

Angel-A is an easy film to knock. Superficially, there isn't a great deal to endear it to any particular type of audience. For example, there's barely any action, no sex or nudity, there are no big Hollywood stars, it's not sufficiently intellectual to be an 'art-house movie' (despite being black & white!) and, although it has amusing moments, it's hardly a comedy. In addition, the film is only focused on the two main characters and, even then, it's only really about one of them. The remaining participants are (quite deliberately it appears) straightforward stereotypes who allow the simple story to progress. The quality of acting from Rie Rasmussen seems far from impressive but, to be fair, she's not speaking in her native language. Mind you, her awkward portrayal of the titular character seems to work well and she certainly stands out as a 'fish out of water'.

But despite the film's potential short-comings, there are three saving graces that transform Angel-A from a rather average 7 to a brilliant 9 in my eyes: the breathtaking cinematography (thank you Luc Besson), the magnificent casting (Jamel Debbouze is perfect as André) and the heart- warming gentle story (which stayed with me long after the film had finished). In fact, I would go so far as to say that Angel-A could leave you examining your own life and wondering when was the last time you stopped to 'respire and regard' the beautiful world around you and consider how the way you feel about yourself might well have a direct impact on how others treat you.

However, Angel-A is one of those films that you have to be in the right mood to watch. If you don't allow yourself to relax and be drawn into the fairytale, the story can easily fall flat. You also have to give it a chance to get started; the fast-paced dialogue at the beginning makes it hard to watch the pictures at the same time as reading the words (unless you're French of course!). But once Angela enters the frame, the story takes off on a stunningly gorgeous wander around Paris and the way that the tale gently unfolds in the second half of the film is wonderfully touching. There are many moments of outstanding beauty and even the superficially simplistic long-shots of Angela & André crossing the Seine have a mysterious magical quality about them. Actually, the whole film feels slightly unreal; this is partly down to the subject matter but also to the way it was filmed in an almost-empty Paris at odd times of the day.

So, in summary, I love Angel-A. It's one of those films you can watch again and again quite happily and find new insights from each viewing. There are so many scenes that quickly become favourite moments as you watch it multiple times. The contrast between the giant Nordic goddess and the shifty little North-African seems to work brilliantly and the backdrop of a beautiful black & white Paris with incredible lighting more than makes up for a few minor flaws. 9/10