Des poupées et des anges (Dolls and Angels)

Based on the novel by Nora Hamidi, with a script and directed by Nora Hamidi, this film has the honor of being the first French movie (I watch recently) that is totally mainstream and very melodramatic. This is so unusual for me that really shocked me, as I really go out-of-the-way to avoid French mainstream.

Perhaps some writers should allow better script writers and much better directors do the adaptation of their successful novels, as sometimes trying to do everything does not mean that the end product is going to be right. The movie has so many flaws that I’m not going to get into mention them, but have to admit that the story has great potential that was totally wasted with the absence of skills in script writing and directing.

Still, I was able to watch the entire movie because actors performances and because (even if it sounds really superficial) great looking actors, especially Leïla Bekhti that plays Lya, the teenage tomboyish girl in the middle of a torn family with an abusive father, a submissive mother and two sisters, the older Chirine trying to get into the modeling business and the younger too young and learning not so good stuff. Bekhti and Karina Testa (plays Chirine) got nominations as Best Female Newcomer at the 2008 Prix Lumières and are well deserved as performances are good.

Definitively I cannot recommend this movie if you enjoy French cinema. But if you’re curious to find why I call it “mainstream” then perhaps you should give it a try.

Sigh.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion