L'ange et la femme

"L'Ange et la femme" is a very curious, surreal, black-and-white film, based on the premises that angels exist on earth in the guise of humans and that they can resurrect the dead and affect the time stream and that they live for beauty.

A beautiful woman is murdered but is resurrected by the angel Gabriel who falls in love with her beauty. She has no memory of her past life. By keeping her alone with him in a home in the wilderness, away from humanity, he is able to teach her the angelic concept of beauty and she is able to learn to play the piano beautifully in a very short time. However, her longing to return to humanity leads her out of the protection and beauty of the angelic life.

The pace of the film is very slow but the ideas are fascinating. Those who take delight in the currently fashionable, romantic concept of angels might be disturbed by the film; Gabriel is more like the angels in the iconoclastic films "Dogma" and "Michael" than the one in "It's a Wonderful Life".

A woman (Carole Laure) is shot dead in the snow. Angel Gabrielle (Lewis Furey) rescues her and breathes new life into her. She has no memories. This is a surreal French Canadian film. It's black and white, and almost experimental. It's a throwback and has many comparisons to the silent era. The dialogue is stilted. Laure and Furey are real life husband and wife. The chemistry is not necessarily explosive but rather familial. One wonders whether it becomes voyeurism into their bedroom. Despite the nudity, the greatest passion seems to be musical. It's a two person experimental play. It doesn't have much drive and it probably has more value as their personal home video.

A hard to find film, but a true gem. Explores a darker side to humanity but somehow remains beautiful through simple imagery and a thought-provoking script. Watch this one with your lover in the dark with candles glowing. Available in French with English sub-titles.

A young woman from the city finds herself in some serious trouble with the local bad guys. She is taken to the countryside and murdered, where she is discovered and restored to life by an earthly angel Gabriel...

The story is fine, but the visuals in this film are most striking -- the look is dark, Kafka-esque, per "The Castle"-- all black and white, and shot in winter in the Canadian countryside -- so stark, sparse. And ditto for the soundtrack, which consists of hushed conversations and minimalist violin solos, all of which are spaced by prolonged silences.

If you prefer the style of meandering European art films to thrill-a-minute Hollywood blockbusters, then "L'Ange et la Femme" is for you.