Angel-A Revisted

Watching Angel-A again, I have to admit I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first time I watched it. This time upon second viewing however I got to look more at the Art and Design side of it. Basically the whole thing from start to finish is greyscale, which is unique for a more modern day film to have such a colour palette to it. It makes me want to see a full colour version of the film to make comparisons. Anyway I knew the story this time, and basically its set in France, when you think of France you think about food, fashion, love etc. and the two characters have a connection between them which is really fitting for the scenery because it is (simply put) Paris, city of love and everything is romantic etc. and the settings such as the bridge at the beginning of the movie, the cityscapes, cafes and clubs all look beautiful, they look really unique, perfectly designed and it’s all about the aesthetics!

This is one where the characters clothes really represent who they are I think, for example Andre is wearing a coat that sort of says what he is, he has been a criminal, but wants to start over again, his facial hair sort of suggests that to, he looks kind of rough, he owes some guy 20,000 euros and he’s going crazy even to the point where he tries to turn himself in, that’s just my opinion anyway.

It also describes French culture (I think) because it shows much more in the scenery for example, there is a scene were Angela supposedly ‘sells herself’ to make money for Andre at a club and the amount of money that these rich looking people are willing to pay her is over the top, it tells you about how expensive it is to live in Paris and sort of about what the people are like i.e. their life styles etc.

All in all I’m saying it does a great job at capturing the City of Paris as it is. The film is unique because it feels like you are watching an old black and white film but in the modern era like it’s brought back the classics into the modern age. It feels whimsical to, as it is like a love fantasy thing and everything is beautiful in this ‘perfect’ world that it appears to create and as it seems to me as a viewer.