The Director is too obsessed with her theme of hard-done-by/unfortunate young woman, and the pathos of her aggrieved face, even when her struggle is only with pedalling a bicycle uphill-—(overlong shots of this), as emblematic of her hardship!
The first shot in the film: Angèle engaged in a certain "activity" up against a wall, with a young man who gives her a Chinese Action Man, after pulling up his jeans, and is never seen again. She appears as a sullen tart, whose unsavoury past is only later hinted at by fragments of information. She is authorised to leave a Young Offenders' hostel when she tells the officer she has got herself a job (helping Tony, the charitable fisherman whose mother is recently widowed).
Her entirely graceless, furtive behaviour is further displayed when we find she has just stolen a bicycle; then she tries to steal a smart dress from a shop, and maintains she has to go and collect her son. This proves to be a charming 10 year old who has naturally become distanced while she was in prison, and she is fearful/embarrassed about confronting him. Apart from a violent demo by fishermen v. police, everyone is obliging: Angèle remains sullen and aggrieved.
In spite of all, there is a happy ending! (She marries Tony, the boy is a page, ex-in-laws are reconciled.)
The Interviews with star and director prove a further disappointment: trying to reply, haltingly, in English, to very banal questions is a daunting task; it only reveals their mutual satisfaction, as if the theme and the beautiful face were sufficient to carry the story through. (275 words)
The first shot in the film: Angèle engaged in a certain "activity" up against a wall, with a young man who gives her a Chinese Action Man, after pulling up his jeans, and is never seen again. She appears as a sullen tart, whose unsavoury past is only later hinted at by fragments of information. She is authorised to leave a Young Offenders' hostel when she tells the officer she has got herself a job (helping Tony, the charitable fisherman whose mother is recently widowed).
Her entirely graceless, furtive behaviour is further displayed when we find she has just stolen a bicycle; then she tries to steal a smart dress from a shop, and maintains she has to go and collect her son. This proves to be a charming 10 year old who has naturally become distanced while she was in prison, and she is fearful/embarrassed about confronting him. Apart from a violent demo by fishermen v. police, everyone is obliging: Angèle remains sullen and aggrieved.
In spite of all, there is a happy ending! (She marries Tony, the boy is a page, ex-in-laws are reconciled.)
The Interviews with star and director prove a further disappointment: trying to reply, haltingly, in English, to very banal questions is a daunting task; it only reveals their mutual satisfaction, as if the theme and the beautiful face were sufficient to carry the story through. (275 words)