The Dreamlife Of Angels

Set in the bleak, northern French city of Lille, Erick Zonca's masterful first feature finds light inside each of its disparate characters: An aimless but optimistic waif, a brutish-looking but tender bouncer, and a beauty whose fierce inner unrest makes her wound others before they can hurt her. Drifter Isa (Elodie Bouchez) lives out of a backpack, but exudes a curious serenity. During a brief stint at a sweatshop, she latches onto the awkward, quarrelsome Marie (Natacha Régnier), who's apartment-sitting for a hospitalized mother and daughter. When Isa is fired, Marie quits in a show of solidarity and the girls begin a period of half-hearted job seeking and full-t...