"Angel-A" is also an unabashed valentine to Paris, which is depicted as a timeless, romantic delight -- and, best of all, uncrowded by unattractive tourists as well as a native populace that can barely tolerate them. If it is a postcard perspective, it suits a movie that could be considered an adaptation-distillation of "It's a Wonderful Life," "Heaven Can Wait" and "Wings of Desire," all of which are deeply philosophical by comparison. Jamel Debbouze, a French movie star best known to Americans as luckless lad Lucien in "Amelie," is cast here as the even more luckless Andre who, after introducing himself as a playboy with U.
S. citizenship and a penthouse overlooking Central Park, is seen being kicked around and then dangled off the Eiffel Tower by representatives of his various creditors. Failing even to get himself locked up by the gendarmes, he decides to end it all with a dive into the Seine.
But perched on the ledge next to him is a teary blond in a tiny black dress (Rie Rasmussen) who beats him to the jump, leaving him little alternative but to save her. Andre's frustration at this turn of events is trumped only by his admiration for his catch, whose name -- and here's the tip-off -- is Angela, and for whom he is, by tradition, now responsible. But after he pours out all his woes -- the most pressing of which is the need to somehow come up with 40,000 euros before midnight -- she turns the tables by becoming his protector.
At a local disco, she quickly earns enough money from bedazzled dance-floor suitors to pay his debt, though Andre, of course, promptly blows it on a bad horse race tip. But her real mission is to teach Andre how to respect and love himself. The only real twist on the formula is that the chain-smoking Angela has no moral compunction about using her sexuality to work miracles on Andre's behalf.
But for all the nasty talk and panty-flashing, "Angel-A" is as chaste as it is sweet-natured. The striking, Danish-born Rasmussen, who smoked up the screen in Brian De Palma's ridiculous thriller "Femme Fatale," doesn't even have to take her clothes off to get what she wants -- or to give Andre what he really needs. "Angel-A" is almost as harmless and uplifting a fairy tale as Besson's previous film, the animated "Arthur and the Invisibles" (which, in reality, was made after this one).
Those lacking a sweet tooth or romantic streak may find "Angel-A" just a confection, but then they would have no business in Paris in the springtime anyway. This article does not have any comments associated with it "Angel-A" is also an unabashed valentine to Paris, which is depicted as a timeless, romantic delight -- and, best of all, uncrowded by unattractive tourists as well as a native populace that can barely tolerate them.
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