Angel Face (Vanessa Filho, 2018): France

Reviewed by William Geare. Viewed at the 2019 Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Angel Face, co-writer/director Vanessa Filho’s debut feature about a young girl’s relationship with her damaged and irresponsible mother, is a wonderfully imaginative and creative film. The narrative is constructed with care and filled to the brim with tension. The kinetic energy that infuses the claustrophobic camera work, and the quiet, dulcet tones of the musical score help create a film that is both intimate and grand at the same time. By focusing the film through a child’s eyes, the film touches on how big the world can seem when you are young and alone. This is equal parts exciting and scary, and Filho strikes a perfect balance between wonderment and looming darkness.

Boasting incredibly strong performances from its two leads, Angel Face shines brightest during its character moments. The relationships depicted are complex, emotional, and unapologetically raw. Marion Cotillard is predictably riveting as Marlène, and newcomer Ayline Aksoy-Etaix is startlingly convincing as her daughter Elli. As the film explores themes of challenging subjects of addiction, abandonment, and betrayal, Aksoy-Etaix’s performance always anchors the film in a poignant reality that provides an unusual perspective on the topics at hand. So much of the film rides on her performance, and it is nothing short of stellar.

Though there are noticeable echoes of Sean Baker’s The Florida Project (and other similar films) hidden not so subtly in the DNA of Angel Face, the film’s distinct identity helps the familiar themes and subject matters seem fresh and original. Filho carefully infuses the story with a lot of symbolism, making sure to draw poignant connections without seeming heavy-handed about it. The portraits painted of the characters’ lifestyles are all beautifully realized, and serve to draw viewers further into the world being created. While the film isn’t without its faults, Angel Face is overall quite a success, showing Filho to be a promising new voice in the filmmaking world.