The Dreamlife of Angels begins with a wandering young girl turning up at the home of somebody she through she knew, only to find them vacant in that they have gone on a placement abroad. The young girl carries with her a large backpack in a physical sense, that worn look of tiredness and travel all over her face in a more literal sense; there is a feeling for that of journeying, of vast journeying across the length and breadth of a nation, indeed Continent, that has imbued her life along up to this point along with what appears as rather a large network of contacts that have been born out of that. This dwelling here and now may very well be the home to one of them, but the contact and the keeping up of appearances with these people is so few and far between, such is the manner in which these people exist, that knowing precisely where one might be at certain times is impossible – in the young woman's world, people are situated at a place; move along and then relocate somewhere else after any duration of time. Cast away and rejected from staying there by the elderly woman actually inhabiting the house, the young woman's exasperated glance at the world behind her as she turns, additionally into us given where the camera's situated, encapsulates a desolate feeling of now having to resume looking for something that doesn't necessarily exit – to try and get by however she can given this revelation: she is back on the road.
The lead is named Isabelle (Bouchez), a woman in her mid-twenties based in France travelling along in the world and getting by on the money she earns out of selling postcards on the street to people, that she herself creates from images plagiarised from magazines. Having failed to find respective dwelling, she turns her interests to the nearby city of Lillie in this: northern France; in a certain way, somewhat refreshingly so in the sense that to have a film of The Dreamlife of Angels' ilk, complete with the aesthetic that it carries, play out in the locale of somewhere such as Lille rather than the more familiarised option somewhere like Paris, is quite pleasant. In Lille a chance interaction with a middle aged Yugoslav, whom runs a sweat shop with his wife, sees Isabelle employed as a seamstress and placed in a makeshift room rife with women doing little all day but sew. Isabelle does not get on particularly well with this scenario, the new zone in which she finds herself one that is rife with an apparent segregation of women into neat rows and lines, each of which are charged with conforming and achieving the same thing that grossly goes against what it was established Isabelle lives for, that is to say; operating as a free spirited and independent person.
It is here the film will have her meet the equally young Marie (Régnier); their relationship bedding the film down and seeing it effectively change gears after having previously come across as a project feeding off of a framework more routed to an approach that sees a lone protagonist stumble through proceedings and just getting by, perhaps something in the vein of Mike Leigh's film from a few years previously entitled Naked. Isabelle moves in with Marie, both women on the same respective level in life as they strive to get by with menial jobs on whatever budget; the premise of Marie's occupancy of the apartment hanging over proceedings in that it itself is rife with a sort of deadline - her current occupying of it born out of it being made vacant by a friend of her aunt's, whom lies alone comatose in a nearby hospital following a car crash – the notion of her waking up at any time and thus forcing the two women out again overbearing things.
There is the initial fun and frolics that come with two such women hooking up and enjoying one another's company; the charm in going out and causing a nuisance of themselves in the evenings eventually leading to an attempted illegal entry to that of a concert; the tampering with richer French person's cars and the constant looking for male partners, each unravelling on their first proper night out together in what is a childish but innocent enough display of escapism from their everyday lives. Given what transpires, we get the feeling these two can trust each other as they strive towards a respective longer term goal; their bonds leading on into some rather inhospitable territory as this trust and these building blocks of a friendship are constructed before being somewhat cruelly knocked down again. Principally, the rift in their bond sees Isabelle rear off to sympathise with one of the comatose apartment owners after obtaining the rather personal item of their diary; Marie's going off to chase a rich womaniser named Chriss (Colin), whom drives his own plush automobile when they must travel by bus and utilises money both ignorantly and carelessly as they strive to get by, is symptomatic of each woman's need to take up a duty in aiding or obsessing over them after having previously been helped out by their intervention. The writer/director of the film, a certain Erick Zonca whom it is in the larger spectrum of opinion has not gone on to match what he does here, displays ample ability in capturing the essence of both natural conversation and mutual appreciation; the film one rich in acting as well as specific nihilist tonal qualities, all of which results in a meritorious piece worth catching.
The lead is named Isabelle (Bouchez), a woman in her mid-twenties based in France travelling along in the world and getting by on the money she earns out of selling postcards on the street to people, that she herself creates from images plagiarised from magazines. Having failed to find respective dwelling, she turns her interests to the nearby city of Lillie in this: northern France; in a certain way, somewhat refreshingly so in the sense that to have a film of The Dreamlife of Angels' ilk, complete with the aesthetic that it carries, play out in the locale of somewhere such as Lille rather than the more familiarised option somewhere like Paris, is quite pleasant. In Lille a chance interaction with a middle aged Yugoslav, whom runs a sweat shop with his wife, sees Isabelle employed as a seamstress and placed in a makeshift room rife with women doing little all day but sew. Isabelle does not get on particularly well with this scenario, the new zone in which she finds herself one that is rife with an apparent segregation of women into neat rows and lines, each of which are charged with conforming and achieving the same thing that grossly goes against what it was established Isabelle lives for, that is to say; operating as a free spirited and independent person.
It is here the film will have her meet the equally young Marie (Régnier); their relationship bedding the film down and seeing it effectively change gears after having previously come across as a project feeding off of a framework more routed to an approach that sees a lone protagonist stumble through proceedings and just getting by, perhaps something in the vein of Mike Leigh's film from a few years previously entitled Naked. Isabelle moves in with Marie, both women on the same respective level in life as they strive to get by with menial jobs on whatever budget; the premise of Marie's occupancy of the apartment hanging over proceedings in that it itself is rife with a sort of deadline - her current occupying of it born out of it being made vacant by a friend of her aunt's, whom lies alone comatose in a nearby hospital following a car crash – the notion of her waking up at any time and thus forcing the two women out again overbearing things.
There is the initial fun and frolics that come with two such women hooking up and enjoying one another's company; the charm in going out and causing a nuisance of themselves in the evenings eventually leading to an attempted illegal entry to that of a concert; the tampering with richer French person's cars and the constant looking for male partners, each unravelling on their first proper night out together in what is a childish but innocent enough display of escapism from their everyday lives. Given what transpires, we get the feeling these two can trust each other as they strive towards a respective longer term goal; their bonds leading on into some rather inhospitable territory as this trust and these building blocks of a friendship are constructed before being somewhat cruelly knocked down again. Principally, the rift in their bond sees Isabelle rear off to sympathise with one of the comatose apartment owners after obtaining the rather personal item of their diary; Marie's going off to chase a rich womaniser named Chriss (Colin), whom drives his own plush automobile when they must travel by bus and utilises money both ignorantly and carelessly as they strive to get by, is symptomatic of each woman's need to take up a duty in aiding or obsessing over them after having previously been helped out by their intervention. The writer/director of the film, a certain Erick Zonca whom it is in the larger spectrum of opinion has not gone on to match what he does here, displays ample ability in capturing the essence of both natural conversation and mutual appreciation; the film one rich in acting as well as specific nihilist tonal qualities, all of which results in a meritorious piece worth catching.