ANGEL OF MINE
***
Director: Kim Farrant
Screenwriters: Luke Davies and David Regal
Principal cast:
Noomi Rapace
Yvonne Strahovski
Richard Roxburgh
Luke Evans
Annika Whiteley
Finn Little
Country: Australia/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 98 mins.
Australian release date: 5 September 2019
Previewed at: Sony Pictures theatrette, Sydney, on 20 August 2019.
Premiering at the Melbourne International Film Festival this year, Kim Farrant’s Angel Of Mine is a taut psychological thriller that contains enough twists, turns and doubts about the main character’s sanity to keep viewers in their seats until its surprising denouement. Based on actual events, the story was first filmed in France in 2008 and released as L'Empreinte De l'Ange (Mark Of An Angel). It was directed by Safy Nebbou, whose latest movie, Who You Think I Am, is coincidentally screening around Australia right now. Angel Of Mine is the second film by Farrant, whose freshman effort was 2015’s Strangerland, a film that occupied similar psychological territory about a mother’s grief.
Living in a Melbourne suburb, Lizzie Manning (Noomi Rapace) is a bereaved mother whose infant daughter, Rosie, died seven years earlier in a hospital fire. She has another child, a boy Thomas (Finn Little), but, as much as he needs her, Lizzie can’t get over the loss of her baby girl. The death has affected her so much that her marriage to Mike (Luke Evans) has failed and he is seeking full-time custody of Thomas because he considers his ex-wife incapable of looking after their boy competently. One day, at a kid’s birthday party, Lizzie spies a young girl, Lola (Annika Whiteley), and almost immediately becomes fixated with the idea that somehow this is her daughter. Her only explanation is that she ‘feels’ that she is right. She befriends the girl’s mother, Claire (Yvonne Strahovski), with the pretence that she is interested in buying her house, as Claire, her husband Bernard (Richard Roxburgh), and Lola are planning to move interstate. When Lizzie’s obsession grows and she begins to stalk the child, the tension between the two women escalates and Lizzie’s behaviour spirals of control. Soon, her absences from work cause her to lose her job and her family and therapist feel they have to intervene to save her from herself. Stopping Lizzie’s obsession, however, is not going to be easy.
Noomi Rapace is absolutely riveting as a woman consumed by grief and desperately trying to convince everyone around her that she is not losing her grip on reality. Lizzie’s conduct borders on the inappropriate as her delusion takes hold. Rapace expertly imparts an undertone of desperation into scenes between her and Lola as she strives to convince the girl of their physical similarities and impart thoughts of familial bonds. Close-ups and lots of shots reflected through mirrors and windows leave Rapace completely exposed but she is never less than utterly convincing. When interviewed recently in The Sydney Morning Herald, Farrant said that although Rapace is well-known for her roles in the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series of films, it was her earlier work on screen in Sweden that convinced the director that she was perfect for the role. She asked Rapace, “Are you willing to really unravel for me?” And, she does… it’s a staggering performance. The Australian actress Strahovski, recognised in this country mainly for her major role in TV’s The Handmaid’s Tale, is almost as compelling, playing an emotionally conflicted mother whose life has been overwhelmed by a possibly demented woman engaged in the relentless pursuit of her daughter. Her husband’s character, stoically played by Richard Roxburgh, establishes their standing as a couple who are successful and ‘normal’, which adds to the craziness of their situation. These things just don’t happen to people like them… do they? Gabe Noel’s unsettling score creates a suitably moody, atmospheric environment for the psycho-drama of Luke Davies’ (writer of Lion) and David Regal’s screenplay to come to the fore. Yes, the script will occasionally have you thinking, “wait a minute…”, but these moments aren’t sufficiently jarring to throw you out of the story.
Angel Of Mine is a gut-wrenching experience that leaves you in no doubt that life can throw up challenges and catch you out when you least expect it. It questions the nature of intuition versus the chaos of obsession and asks, scarily, can we always trust our inner voices?
Screenwriters: Luke Davies and David Regal
Principal cast:
Noomi Rapace
Yvonne Strahovski
Richard Roxburgh
Luke Evans
Annika Whiteley
Finn Little
Country: Australia/USA
Classification: MA15+
Runtime: 98 mins.
Australian release date: 5 September 2019
Previewed at: Sony Pictures theatrette, Sydney, on 20 August 2019.
Premiering at the Melbourne International Film Festival this year, Kim Farrant’s Angel Of Mine is a taut psychological thriller that contains enough twists, turns and doubts about the main character’s sanity to keep viewers in their seats until its surprising denouement. Based on actual events, the story was first filmed in France in 2008 and released as L'Empreinte De l'Ange (Mark Of An Angel). It was directed by Safy Nebbou, whose latest movie, Who You Think I Am, is coincidentally screening around Australia right now. Angel Of Mine is the second film by Farrant, whose freshman effort was 2015’s Strangerland, a film that occupied similar psychological territory about a mother’s grief.
Living in a Melbourne suburb, Lizzie Manning (Noomi Rapace) is a bereaved mother whose infant daughter, Rosie, died seven years earlier in a hospital fire. She has another child, a boy Thomas (Finn Little), but, as much as he needs her, Lizzie can’t get over the loss of her baby girl. The death has affected her so much that her marriage to Mike (Luke Evans) has failed and he is seeking full-time custody of Thomas because he considers his ex-wife incapable of looking after their boy competently. One day, at a kid’s birthday party, Lizzie spies a young girl, Lola (Annika Whiteley), and almost immediately becomes fixated with the idea that somehow this is her daughter. Her only explanation is that she ‘feels’ that she is right. She befriends the girl’s mother, Claire (Yvonne Strahovski), with the pretence that she is interested in buying her house, as Claire, her husband Bernard (Richard Roxburgh), and Lola are planning to move interstate. When Lizzie’s obsession grows and she begins to stalk the child, the tension between the two women escalates and Lizzie’s behaviour spirals of control. Soon, her absences from work cause her to lose her job and her family and therapist feel they have to intervene to save her from herself. Stopping Lizzie’s obsession, however, is not going to be easy.
Noomi Rapace is absolutely riveting as a woman consumed by grief and desperately trying to convince everyone around her that she is not losing her grip on reality. Lizzie’s conduct borders on the inappropriate as her delusion takes hold. Rapace expertly imparts an undertone of desperation into scenes between her and Lola as she strives to convince the girl of their physical similarities and impart thoughts of familial bonds. Close-ups and lots of shots reflected through mirrors and windows leave Rapace completely exposed but she is never less than utterly convincing. When interviewed recently in The Sydney Morning Herald, Farrant said that although Rapace is well-known for her roles in the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series of films, it was her earlier work on screen in Sweden that convinced the director that she was perfect for the role. She asked Rapace, “Are you willing to really unravel for me?” And, she does… it’s a staggering performance. The Australian actress Strahovski, recognised in this country mainly for her major role in TV’s The Handmaid’s Tale, is almost as compelling, playing an emotionally conflicted mother whose life has been overwhelmed by a possibly demented woman engaged in the relentless pursuit of her daughter. Her husband’s character, stoically played by Richard Roxburgh, establishes their standing as a couple who are successful and ‘normal’, which adds to the craziness of their situation. These things just don’t happen to people like them… do they? Gabe Noel’s unsettling score creates a suitably moody, atmospheric environment for the psycho-drama of Luke Davies’ (writer of Lion) and David Regal’s screenplay to come to the fore. Yes, the script will occasionally have you thinking, “wait a minute…”, but these moments aren’t sufficiently jarring to throw you out of the story.
Angel Of Mine is a gut-wrenching experience that leaves you in no doubt that life can throw up challenges and catch you out when you least expect it. It questions the nature of intuition versus the chaos of obsession and asks, scarily, can we always trust our inner voices?