Änglars drömliv

Isa is twenty years old. She arrives in Lille in Northern France, after having gone through several other towns looking for part time work. She carries a backpack as her only luggage. She never has the same type of job twice, and she never keeps the ones she has for long. Isa takes life one day at a time. Every new experience she has, she puts on a pi Ie with her other experiences. Isa is a positive survivor.
In Lille she meets Marie, who is the same age as Isa, and as lonely as Isa,
but for other reasons. Marie is anti-social, vulnerable and in conflict with the past. She neither has the same solid ground to stand on, as Isa has. With time the relationship between them, and to their surroundings develop, and we get to know deeper dimensions in their psyche.
La vie revee des anges (nominated for the Palme d'Or in Cannes this year) is a look into the life of these to people.
The film depicts how they both from their respective conditions create meaning, content and dignity to their lives. This is told in a discreet way. Nothing is overly articulated. The story of the film is told in hints and small details, most of the important things take place ''between the lines''.
The actors are meticulously directed and the characters are odd Iy authentic. The both of them exist in real life. Both of them, by the way, exist in real life. The character Isa is based on an actress who showed up for an audition for Zonca's short film Eternelles. Her life style fascinated the director so much that he decided to use her as a character. Marie is based on a very good friend of Zonca.
The film is bare and free from estheticism in its style. This combined with the characters' varied complexity and authenticity and the realistic history creates an intimacy and closeness. The film feels more like staged reality than a fictional story. Something that one often can feel in French film and that has been part of the French film tradition since the French New Wave during the 60's. In France there was no need for a public outcry for authenticity in film along the lines of von Trier's Dogma 95, La vie revee des anges was made anyway.
BJORN HESSLE

Premiärstatus
Skandinavisk premiär: Orig. titel
La Vie revee des anges: Medverkande
Elodie Bouchez,Natach Réginer,Grégorie Colin: Producent
Francois Marquis: Manus
Erick Zonca,Roger Bohbot: Foto
Agnes Godard: Talat språk
French