An uneasy mixture of camp satire and lurid melodrama, François Ozon’s Angel remains aloof – just like its lead character – for the duration.
Based on the 1957 novel by Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress), itself (supposedly) a satire of the Douglas Sirk-esque melodramas of the time, the film mostly plays things deceptively straight; but there´s more here than a first glance indicates.
Romola Garai stars as Angel Deverell, an entirely self-absorbed teen who improbably becomes an overnight sensation with the publication of her romance novels.
We follow Angel as she purchases Paradise, the estate she dreamed of living in as a child, falls in love with and marries bitter painter Esmé (Michael Fassbender), whose ‘smudge painting´ works couldn’t be different from her fantasy romances, and lives in her own world despite the realities that surround her.
She refuses to change a thing in her initial novel (despite clear errors, such as opening champagne with a corkscrew), and refuses to change anything about her self-centered ways, up to the bitter end; Ozon goes out of his way to paint this character as unsympathetic, and challenges us throughout the film to resolve our feelings about her.
Garai is remarkable in the lead; while the character is never likable, her spoiled-little-rich-girl Angel is utterly believable.
Taken at face-value, the movie is awful; an ironically straight, emotionally empty melodrama that layers on the schmaltz with lush cinematography and overbearing musical crescendos that hammer home every detail (not to mention the dime-store romance plot).
But look closer: Ozon has faithfully recreated the kind of fantasy world that Angel has trapped herself in. While at times the satire is obvious (especially during amusingly retro rear-projection honeymoon scenes), the director otherwise downplays everything so much that many will miss the point entirely.
A thought-provoking film that knowingly presents itself as empty as its lead character; challenging and rewarding, but less successful as entertainment.
The kind of love-it-or-hate-it film that I fully respect but feel strangely indifferent about. An interesting (if more modest and less successful) companion piece to Todd Haynes´ Far From Heaven.
