Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

johnnyboyz 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.

elivbg1 This is not a bad movie; there is some real good and honest acting. There is an interesting human angle to the stories. But to me it was not a great movie. Both female characters were sympathetic in their own way but there was a feeling of gloom and desperation in the movie, which seemed to overpower the positive message of the movie. There is a tendency in European cinema drama to really go for what may be called a realistic sense of despair in the characters or the story lines. And that film is no exception. You can choose to focus on everything that can go wrong in life; and this movie sort of does that in its own way and to at least several of its characters. On the other hand, it also offers some positive turns and twists. There is some fruit for thought, some hope and some sense of joy but there was not enough optimism in the movie to really make it a great movie for me.

dancopp Yes, the acting is superb, both the leads: the footloose, free-spirit Isa and the angry and erratic Marie. Also the supporting cast: the fat-boy bouncer and the rich-boy cad.What's available to young women cast out of the nest? How does one survive the winters as a homeless person in the northern France? Mind-numbing factory work is available. But where to live, and how to find the community that homo sapiens need to be mentally healthy? We learn what it takes to survive. Isa has great resources; she's an extrovert and has a genuine concern for others. She finds community with a most unlikely person. Poor Marie, wanly beautiful, is withdrawn and suspicious; one must intrude forcibly to get beyond her defenses. And yet she's careless. So faced with the same chances, one woman finds psychic sustenance while the other stumbles into despair.

dbdumonteil For a long time, French cinema had the bias to choose to overlook the marginalized, the social misfits who have trouble to struggle and to fit in a society. In the nineties, some French filmmakers began to get interested in these categories of ill-fated ones as Erick Zonca's tale bears witness. His chronicle of these two friends facing the harsh economic, social realities together was bestowed with prizes in 1998, 1999, especially at the Cannes festival where it was one of the jury's favorites. French public and press specialized in cinema gave it an ovation and the film enjoys a favorable reputation abroad, rather rightly so.The director's forte is to showcase and to assess the persona of his two young interprets. At first sight, they're a mismatched pair that everything opposes and brings together. Isabelle (Elodie Bouchez): a 20 year-old young woman who brims with energy and generosity, ready to accept any job not to get bogged down in poverty including to distribute advertising leaflets on roller skates dressed in "sandwich-woman". Beside her, Marie (Natacha Régnier), bilious, mercurial dissimilar to her sidekick (to put it mildly). Apart from the liking she feels for Isabelle and their friendship is a touch of light in this drab city, she's her complete antipode. She can't put up with her distressing condition, she's rather in bad terms with her mother. She even shows total egocentricity because she doesn't even go to a lot of trouble to visit her cousin Sandrine in a coma and whose mother died shortly after wards. A consequence to her profound discontentment and to her inability to come to terms with her social condition. Maybe an exit to this life for her would be to live with Chris, a rich kid with a more than comfortable living standards. She has a crush on him but the latter treats her like a ghostly girl.Erick Zonca's chronicle is composed of two parts. The first half is nearly faultless and a prime one from every angle. The director tries to capture short-term moments of bliss when the two friends are together and there's a communicative "feel-good" vibe. Zonca also deftly eschews what could make caricatured some characters like the ruffian-like bouncers. The second part veers to a doom-laden turn which even if it serves the title of the film and Marie also makes it formulaic. From the moment when Marie is enamored of Chris, the audience has to expect the inevitable. Marie's love for Chris jeopardizes her friendship with Isabelle who is very aware that Marie's lover considers her as a casual lover and leads her up the garden path. So, almost adamant feuds break out between Isa and Marie who don't manage to calmly communicate face to face. Zonca steers his film according to what the audience expects and the poise that the film created in the first half is damaged and not well dovetailed as a whole. The interest tends to dwindle and Mr Zonca, I would have liked more unexpected, less easiness but fortunately the communicative vitality, the acting full of spontaneity of the two main actresses largely stop you from dismissing this piece of work.I don't want to be a major spoiler and pour out the end. I will just say that it encompasses an upbeat, placating whiff thanks to a song discerningly chosen. "La Vie Rêvée Des Anges" is worth a watch thanks essentially to the two actresses whose performances boosted their careers. Natacha Régnier was venturesome to agree to hold difficult or trying roles later as in François Ozon's disquieting "les Amants Criminels" (1999).