The Dreamlife of Angels (La Vie rêvée des Anges) (1989)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Photo Filmographies-Cast & Crew Trailer-Facing Window, Read My Lips, My Man, Angela
Rating
Year Of Production	1989
Running Time	108:41
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (74:07)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Erick Zonca
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Élodie Bouchez Natacha Régnier Grégoire Colin Patrick Mercado Jo Prestia Francine Massenhave Zivko Niklevski Murielle Colvez Lyazid Ouelhadj Frédérique Hazard Jean-Michel Lemayeux Louise Motte Rosa Maria
Case	?
RPI	$36.95	Music	Yann Tiersen

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     The film title, The Dreamlife of Angels is about as enigmatic as its storyline and its central characters. There is Isa (Élodie Bouchez) who is a gamin little waif who blows in the breeze and settles wherever she lays her rucksack, and then there's Marie (Natacha Régnier), a complex and brittle girl, ill equipped to rise above self-absorption to take on life's challenges. They meet in a sweatshop sewing factory in the French town of Lille. Marie invites Isa to stay with her in an apartment she is looking after for a woman who, with her daughter, was seriously injured in a car accident.

      Initially, they take great pleasure from each other's company, scampering about town and mercilessly teasing a couple of nightclub bouncers, Charly (Patrick Mercado) and Fredo (Jo Prestia). But while Isa is able to keep a light touch on life, Marie becomes increasingly overwhelmed by her own disappointments. After initially rejecting his advances, she eventually foregoes the genuinely warm affection Charly offers her in favour of a tragically unrealistic affair with the oily young owner of the nightclub, Chriss (Grégoire Colin). The lives of the two women become increasingly separate. Isa finds the diary of the young girl in whose apartment she is staying, and becomes utterly enchanted with its sweet passions and obsessions. She begins to visit the hospital to read the diary to the girl, who is lying heedless in a coma. Isa may be a bit of an aimless drifter, but she knows how to connect with people.

      Marie is not similarly gifted. She is apparently unable to rise from the centre of herself, and tends to use people and regard them for what they can do for her. She becomes increasingly deluded about her relationship with Chriss, and ignores Isa's warnings about its ugly potential.

      This film is a very slow study that will only appeal to those with the patience to allow its story to unfold. Its director, Erick Zonca has stated that he's more interested in character than story line, and that is clearly evident in his first feature film. It drifts and meanders, delving into the minutiae of life, insisting that we keep intimately close with the characters. It is only towards the end of the film that some of the threads become somewhat more evident, eventually drawing together to reveal the full tableau in its rather sad and pensive conclusion.

      Although I'm accustomed to reading subtitles, I found these were frequently quite wordy and demanding, so it may not be a good choice for a newcomer to the world of foreign language films.

      It's definitely worth a watch, although it provides a rather unusual cinematic experience. Personally, I found it took some time to warm to the characters, although that's, I suppose, not unlike real life, where it takes time to get to know someone and override one's first impressions. The conclusion is equally ambivalent. The two girls experience very different conclusions that it would be unfair to reveal here. Suffice it to say, the way each is handled is surprisingly unlike any formulaic convention one may have come to expect.

      This is a sad little tale that is very much bound by humanity. It is very well, though languorously told, but it does require work by the viewer.

Video

     The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 16x9 enhanced.

     There is large reliance on small, hand held cameras in this film, so the look is quite deliberately rather flat. It almost feels "handmade" with a couple of rather rough edits to boot. However, it is reasonable low grained and bright enough to not distract.

     The colours are generally quite good with natural skin tones and good shadow detail.

     There were no particular sins committed in terms of artefacts. Aliasing was at a minimum, and there was no significant dust or scratch marks.

     This is an RSDL disc, with the layer change at 74:07, between chapters 21 and 22. The transition is without problems.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The soundtrack is delivered in French Dolby Digital 2.0.

      The dialogue is clear enough and there are no significant audio sync problems. Subtitles were clean and accurate but rather wordy, occasionally making it a choice between watching the action or reading the dialogue.

     The music is non existent for all intents and purposes. This was designed in a more cinema veritae style, and I agree that swirls of soundtrack would have defeated the intention of the film.

     There is virtually no use of the surround channels whatsoever. But this felt like an acceptable choice for a film of this nature.

      Subwoofer activity is equally absent.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

     The menu is static with music.

Trailer

     This runs for 1:42 without subtitles.

Photo Gallery

     8 very grainy images.

Cast & Crew Filmographies

     Static and silent film lists for Élodie Bouchez, Natacha Régnier and Erick Zonca.

Trailers

     Trailers for Facing Window, Read My Lips, My Man and Angela.

      There seems to be no difference between the 2 presentations. Go for PAL.

     This is no doubt a challenge, but I regard it as a worthy one. This is a film to take your time with.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall