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ANGEL-A Send This Review to a Friend
French director Luc Besson makes unusual films, and “Angel-A” is no exception, a black and white Parisian excursion involving a suicidal man and a woman who is an angel there to help solve his problems but with problems of her own. The strange story has its charms, not the least of which is a Paris.
Jamel Debbouze plays Andre, a petty criminal saddled with a troublesome debt to a gangster. He has reached the end of the road and decides to jump into the Seine from a bridge. But he sees a woman jump ahead of him, and his instincts lead him to dive in to rescue her. She is Angela, played by the beautiful Rie Rasmussen. The two become attached and we follow them on their journey of self-discovery
Angela is angelic, as we learn, and she is there to save him as he saved her. But as she is not of this world, that’s a problem for both.
Besson gives the fanciful film a blend of earthiness and the ethereal, and director of photography Thierry Arbogast achieves stunning visuals that add to the film’s aura. “Angel-A” is not be for everyone but its very offbeat quality will please many art film enthusiasts. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
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