The Dreamlife of Angels (1999)

Few prosaic settings could arouse better the "pity" for helpless mortals that Aristotle called the essence of the tragic spectacle. The film is exquisitely composed, in the sordid type of setting that too many urban youths, unhelped by parents, are faced with. The Director's artistic reticence, and the unbroken silences where we are moved to share the mental processes, and anguish, of the two girls, cause this film to provoke that "pitiful" purification which is enriching for the spectator, and could be invaluable for adolescents on the verge of... "life" in our time.Young men who are able to empathise with the tragic situations that Isabelle and Marie are in should form a richer sympathy for the lives of girls that they encounter.

Another in a long string of French films I've watched lately. It has all the hallmarks of a French flick. Lots of character development, thread bare plot. The film has two dynamic, broken people as the protagonists. This movie is like a Hemmingway novel, painful, but totally justified by the ending.Marie, played by Natatchia Regnier, is a lonely soul who falls in love with someone out of her league. She is a tad off, prone to violence, and unable to control her anger at times. She is so obviously used by her lover, that even she recognizes it. Their first date is him inviting her to take a walk in town, but instead taking her to a hotel room. She is reluctant, and disappointed, but cannot resist him.Isa, played by Elodie Bouchez, is the pixie like good girl of the film. She and Marie live together in a house that belongs to a mother and daughter who were seriously injured in a car accident. The daughter is in a coma. Isa goes regularly to visit her in the hospital. She forms a sort of relationship with her by reading her diary. Isa's morality contrasts so much with Marie that it makes Marie's deterioration that much more dramatic.

There are people who have not the lot to be born in a good family, with enough income to give to their children a life without difficulties and guarantee them a promising future. The people without this lot pass their days dreaming about a better life, a life in which don't have the need to search every night a bed to sleep, a life with a permanent job that assure enough income to don't care about the basic needs, a life to live not to suffer. But there are people able to keep going ahead, optimist people who can wake up every day with a smile, who are able to enjoy every little moment. But other people cannot take out from their mind the life that they want to have, the life with which they dream about every day. They do everything to reach that life, but they don't get it and they sink in a deeper pessimism that makes them live with sadness and disillusion. "La vie rêvée des anges" shows us the day by day of two young women in this situation. They either try to reach their dreamed life either try to enjoy the life they got. It is an excellent human drama, highly recommended to those who like the genre. Just the brilliant interpretation of both actresses makes the movie a must-see. In addition, the soundtrack is amazing; you must wait until the end of the movie to hear the unique song but it worth the wait.

This touching and compelling story is another one of those films which year after year drive me further and further away from Bollywood pot-boilers. In Europe we make films: in Hollywood they make spectacle turn-gate busters. This is a simple but sensitive story of two girls somewhat adrift in life, somewhat lost in the hopes for life, somewhat floating from day to day without much to go on or go by. But so refreshingly and carefully enacted and directed: Eric Zonca is indeed one of those directors who put great power into simple stories, so that the resulting film is captivating, beyond the story per se. Here is excellent European theatre, among the best. Mixing tragic moments with joyful experiences, mixing friendship in the deepest human values. "La Vie rêvée des anges" is a film for the intelligent and sensitive viewer who wants to see real life human drama at ground level.If you like this film, do not miss Fernando León de Aranoa's "Princesas" (2005)(qv).