The sign of the angel
The Sign of the Angel is a French drama directed by Safy Nebbou from 2008. It is based on a true case. An American remake was released in 2019 with Angel of Mine .
action
Elsa Valentin is divorced from her husband; the couple is also about to legal custody battle over their son Thomas. Elsa wants her son to live with her, but is mentally unstable. About seven years ago she lost her daughter Lucy, who was a few days old, in a fire in the hospital. She never got over the loss of her daughter. One day Elsa picks up her son from a children's birthday party and discovers a girl. She is sure that she is Lucy. Thomas only knows about her that it is Jérémy's sister, whom he only knows through a friend from training. Elsa succeeds in locating the girl's school and finally follows her home after school. Here she sees that the family home is for sale. She purposefully goes for a walk with Thomas nearby and finally watches Jérémy's mother Claire Vigneaux at the entrance gate as she brings the children home. The mothers get to know each other and both boys are thrilled to see each other again after the birthday party. They will befriend the next time. Elsa, in turn, expresses interest in the house and is therefore allowed to view it the next day. She learns that the family wants to emigrate to Canada because of work . She can also find out a lot about her daughter: Her name is Lola and she is seven years old - as old as Lucy would be.
In the next few days, Elsa found more and more excuses at work and with her parents, in order to be able to watch Lola or actively seek her closeness. When she skates, she pretends to support Lola, but hugs her tightly and forgetfully so that she overlooks another skater on the ice. Lola falls and hits the gang with her head hard. The incident cools the relationship between Elsa and Claire, who is becoming increasingly suspicious.
Thomas is happy that Elsa wants to buy the Vigneaux 'house. In front of her parents, however, Elsa rejects this request as absurd and Thomas reacts deeply disappointed. Since they experience Elsa as restless and nervous, their parents get them to tell them the reason for their behavior. The parents are shocked that Elsa thinks she recognizes her dead daughter in Lola, and they want to talk her out of her imagination. But Elsa doesn't give up. Elsa later collapses exhausted at work. In the supermarket she happens to meet Claire again, who is cool towards her. When Elsa appears shortly afterwards at a ballet performance by Lola and even spends time behind the stage during the dance, Claire has enough. She looks for Elsa at work and confronts her. Elsa explains her suspicions to her and Claire is horrified and indignant and advises Elsa to seek therapy. She asks Claire to do a DNA test to prove motherhood. When Claire refuses, Elsa breaks into her and collects Lola's hair from her pillow. Claire surprises her and both women start a fight. While Elsa's husband-to-be reproaches his wife for being crazy and finally wanting to let the past rest, Claire reacts as restless and nervous as Elsa. Both women meet again later and Claire tells Elsa the truth: In fact, both women were in the same hospital and witnessed the fire. Claire's daughter died in the fire and Claire, dumb with pain, heard a child crying in the next room. Elsa was already passed out on the floor at the time and Claire believed she was dead. She took Lucy and fled from the burning building. Both were transferred to a hospital in Paris and never questioned about the fire. A subsequently issued birth certificate stated Paris as the place of birth; Claire never told her husband what really happened that night. Now both families have to find each other again. Claire's husband and Lola learn the truth. The family will stay in France for the time being. A first walk with Lola makes it clear to Elsa that the close bond with the daughter is initially only one-sided. Lola insists that she cannot remember Elsa and the five days they spent together in the hospital.
production
According to the film credits, The Sign of the Angel is based on an authentic case; this happened in the United States . The film was shot in Paris and Saint-Maur-des-Fossés , among others . The costumes created Corinne Jory , the Filmbauten come from Cyril Gomez-Mathieu .
Safy Nebbou directed the feature film for the second time with The Sign of the Angel . Sandrine Bonnaire had already played the leading role in his directorial debut The Giraffe's Neck . Nebbou can be seen in a cameo as a customer in Elsa's pharmacy. His brother Mehdi Nebbou took on a small role as a police officer in the film.
The film first screened at the Festival du film de Cabourg on June 13, 2008 and was released in French cinemas on August 13, 2008, where it was seen by almost 600,000 viewers. In Germany, the film was first seen on TV on April 25, 2011 on Bayern 3 and was released on DVD on August 18, 2011.
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Elsa Valentin | Catherine Frot | Susanne von Medvey |
| Claire Vigneaux | Sandrine Bonnaire | Sabine Arnhold |
| Bernard Vigneaux | Vladimir Yordanoff | Bodo Wolf |
| Alain Valentin | Michel Aumont | Klaus Sunshine |
| Laurence | Sophie Quinton | Anna Carlsson |
| Colette | Michèle Moretti | Isabella Grothe |
criticism
The film service called The Sign of the Angel a "subtly staged psychogram of two women, interspersed with thriller elements". The film is supported by the acting skills of Sandrine Bonnaire and Catherine Frots, but remains "emphatically ambivalent in its statement" and comes up with a "rather unsatisfactory ending". For Cinema it was a “nasty stalker drama with reminiscences of Hitchcock and Chabrol ”, which was “very finely cast” and developed an “eerie pull”.
Award
Catherine Frot received a 2009 Globe de Cristal nomination in the Best Actress category.
Web links
- Mark of an Angel in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Incroyable mais… on allocine.fr
- ↑ Box Office on allocine.fr
- ↑ The sign of the angel. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ The sign of the angel. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See the sign of the angel on cinema.de
- ↑ See Récompenses on allocine.fr