Angel-a

Introduction

We are in Paris. The time is irrelevant.

André is trying his best to feel good about himself, despite having what seems like the bulk of the Parisian underworld wanting him to pay off some huge debts, hurt him in places so it would really hurt, and chuck him off the Eiffel Tower for good measure.



He's a good guy, but a bit of a loser. Ok, a lot of a loser.

André is a French-Morrocan. He has the gift of the gab, tries to get into scams that are way over his head, and lives in a fantasy world in which he thinks becoming an American citizen (he has recently gained his green card, but probably through dubious means) will protect him from those who would like to see him disappear. Even the police don't want to lock up an Arab with no identification and the US embassy doesn't want to know, as they already know too much about his fraudulent lifestyle.

With all hope rapidly dwindling away, he decides to leap off the Pont Alexandre III (one of the more picturesque bridges crossing the Seine, dontcha know) and end it all. He's not the only one there.
Angela is also considering a watery end. Her make-up is suffering the effects of a good cry and she leaps off first. André, probably through annoyance than anything else (it was his idea after all), jumps in after her and drags her to the river bank.



Angela, of course, isn't all that she appears. She appears to be a gorgeous blonde woman with legs that are almost as long as André himself, but she harbours a secret, one which she hopes will change André's life, but he has to believe in himself, and she has a peculiar way of carrying out her plans.

Audio

The 5.1 surround is used sparingly, but everything is perfectly clear, so, not much more to say about that, apart from the strange echoes that occur when Angela is speaking near the bridge, yet don't occur when André talks in almost the same position.

Video

I'm very fond of black and white films, and so it was very nice to see that this (relatively) recent offering from Luc Besson was such a film - but I should have known from the screenshots on the DVD cover I suppose. The quality is excellent, and Besson (with the sterling work of his long-tern cinematographic partner, Thierry Abrogast) creates a vision of Paris that is intense, magical and wonderfully seedy. When colour is out of the equation it takes a real artist to grab the attention, and we have artistry in bucketloads here.

Extras

These consist of the usual fayre for most DVDs, although the 'Making of..' is rather more entertaining than most, showing us some useful behind-the-scenes work involving the bridge / river scenes and some amusing moments where Rie Rasmussen has a few problems with her French (which, I think, is actually her third language). Everyone, espeically Besson himself, is very understanding, but will not accept anything less than perfect.


'Making of the music' is also quite fun, as we see the composrer, Anja Garbarek (daughter of the saxophonist) oversee many of the scenes as the performers record their bits, even though much of the sound was created by the orchestrator (an occupation which is too often overlooked) and conductor, Gisele Gérard-Tolini.




Some of the musicians are introduced personally (by subtitle), and many of those involved in the final soundtrack get their tuppence-ha'penny worth in.

The almost obligatory music video (or as they call it in France, 'Le Clip' ) is performed very ably by Garbarek herself, and she has a rather lovely voice.

One notable absence, in conributions to anything worthwhile in the extras anyway, is Besson himself. He appears in many scenes but never says anything to camera, and I think this was a wasted opportunity for both himself and us, the viewers.

Conclusion

For those who know Besson films from Léon, The Fifth Element, and Nikita , this may well come as a bit of a surprise, and possibly a disappointment. He has actually written and/or produced more films than he has directed (the last of which, to date, being Arthur and the Invisibles in 2006).

This 'last-but-one' directorial offering is a complete change in tack. It is a love story, not just between the protagonists, but for Paris itself, the city in which he was born and brought up, and Besson makes no apologies for this. The city looks immaculate, but the people who populate it are not so clean and bright.




André Moussa is actually a dirty and fairly revolting character, despite all claims (mostly by himself) to the contrary, and Jamel Debbouze plays him brilliantly. His career as a comedic actor is put to great use, yet he still has the appearance of a clown, by which I mean there's an underlying sadness in almost every look he gives. You can't help therefore but to root for this slimy, hopeless individual who tries his best to better himself by fair means or foul, yet a large question mark about whether he deserves divine help in any way, shape or form hangs over the whole film.

I suppose the 'moral' of the story is that we all deserve a helping-hand in some way, and if this comes in the shape of Danish supermodel Rie Rasmussen, then I'm sure there wouldn't be many complaints.

Rasmussen is tall, blonde and beautiful. However hard a director tries, you can't hide hide these qualities, and so she is decked out in not much at all, showing off her long-legged and pert qualifications quite wonderfully. Luckily, Rasmussen is also rather good at acting, and displays a great talent in both comedic and dramatic scenes, most tellingly in the restaurant scene where she admits that she wanted to return to eath as 'a slut', and the penultimate 'parting' on the bridge where they first met.




The script is very funny in places (reflected in refreshingly non-Americanised subtitles), yet there's always a threat of it slipping into clichéd sentimentality at any moment although the delivery by Debbouze and Rasmussen prevents anything too sugary from bursting forth.

Overall though, you can't help thinking that the slight plot has been a little overstretched and that Besson is trying his best to explain everything in such detail that little is left to the imagination. Having said this, if you get down to basics, it's still a rather sweet love story which has been told many times before, but which will always stand the test of time.




The concept of 'divine intervention' is not new either, and has been explored most notably in It's a Wonderful Life and Wings of Desire, but the idea of the redeeming angel having as many, if not more problems as the person they are supposed to be rescuing is a nice touch, and so Angel-A has a certain powerful charm of its own, and is a very, very French variation on the theme. I've become rather fond of it.