Taking a break from producing irresistibly silly action blow-outs like Transporter 2 and District 13, Luc Besson finally returns to the director's chair with supernatural love story Angel-A. Alas, the results fall well short of divine. What looks at first like an attempt to cross Amelie with Wim Wenders' Wings Of Desire ends up closer to an arty Agent Provocateur ad thanks to the leggy presence of Rie Rasmussen, the barely-clad blonde who struts into the life of debt-ridden half-pint Jamel Debbouze.
The sizable height difference between the leads is one of the few things that amuses in a film overstuffed with romantic rhubarb. All talk, little action, the plot pivots on an offbeat meet-cute: poised to end it all by chucking himself in the Seine, Andre (Debbouze) instead fishes fellow would-be suicide Angela (Rassmusen) out of the water. By way of thanks, she leans on the heavies to who Andre owes a ton of money.
"EASY ON THE EYE"
Our mystery woman also teaches her saviour to love himself. Well, someone's got to. An affable oddball in , the diminutive Debbouze (one of France's top funnymen) here struggles to invest appeal in his low-life character. Rassmusen, meanwhile, is as striking as any Besson heroine but exudes all the warmth of a stroppy supermodel. Still, our mystery woman's saintly secret (the clue's in the title) does allow for some nice FX to take flight come the climax. In fact, the whole film's easy on the eye thanks to the Parisian summer setting, photographed in creamy black and white. If only the romance wasn't so monochrome too...
In French and Spanish with English subtitles.