LOVE STARTS AT HOME "ANGEL – A"

Ok, finally my conscience is at rest. I have finally, after such a long time, watched a “serious” movie. I do admit that going from animation straight to Luc Besson, the most serious of French art cinema may have been a bit of a leap. However as you probably know by now, this is the way my mind works. And I mean, come on. It isn’t likely to shock your system or give you brain freeze or something. I mean it might but only if you watch it in close succession with How To Train Your Dragon, for example. Don’t do that. I mean, even I don’t do that. Seriously.

That being said, just because Luc Besson directed it, it’s French and in black and white, please don’t let Angel-a scare you off. I know all that screams absolutely unwatchable in most cases, but this film is just so… Well in a word adorable. I laughed out loud. I even shed a few tears. And I marvelled at Besson’s wonderful black and white photography, framing the beauty of Paris. Seriously guys, this is not one you want to miss.

This is the story of André Moussah. André is a small time wheeler-dealer. He usually survives thanks to his gift of the gab and his ability wriggle out of shady deals relatively unscathed. However, as is often the case with this kind of life, he finally talks himself into a corner he cannot talk his way back out of. He is basically broke, with no prospects of getting any money and two very dangerous men to whom he owes a total of around 50 thousand euros. Seeing that his chances of surviving beyond midnight are getting rather slim, he decides to make everyone’s job a tad easier for them and kill himself. And just as he has climbed onto a bridge over the Seine, contemplating his last seconds on earth what should he see right on the balustrade beside him, except a beautiful woman, also preparing to kill herself. In fact, the young woman turns out to be a good deal more determined than André as she actually jumps. André however, being a good man at heart, jumps straight in after her and rescues her. However, it soon transpires that this young woman, or Angela as she calls herself, is not just a random passerby. In fact she is not even human. And her mission on earth is to change Andrés life for ever.

Ok, so maybe I shouldn’t have told you she isn’t human. Then again, Besson peppers the film with clues and honestly, this is not exactly the point of the film. I mean, unless you are really not watching the film properly, you will understand pretty quickly what Angela is. I’ll give you a hint – the name is a dead giveaway. So is the way Rie Rasmussen pronounces it. This film is about serious stuff. And I don’t mean random “arty” stuff. I mean stuff like learning to love yourself before you can learn to love another. Stuff like how that love can change you and change your life. The film is brilliant in that it doesn’t let up on the comedy. And Jamel Debbouze (whose name you do not know but whose face you are bound to recognise if you have watched a French film in the last 10 – 15 years. He is slowly becoming an “institution” like Reno or Depardieu, and for a good reason) is an excellent choice as a comic actor. The sharp contrast with tall blonde (VERY Swedish) Rie Rasmussen makes it just that little bit funnier. Honestly, you can’t get people to think about something so serious and so important without a bit of comedy though. Think about it, anything else would be just too much. A little  too cloying. And a bit like a cheesy greeting card. However mixing up the funny with the serious, the smiles with the tears, Besson puts a very important message into the context of real life, thus forcing us to really think about it. Note how hard André ultimately finds it to come to peace with himself. And ask yourself if, deep down, you have a similar problem as well…

 This is a beautiful movie on so many levels. Please don’t let the French or the black and white scare you off…