In "Angel" erzählt François Ozon ("8 Frauen") die emotional ergreifende Geschichte der jungen und talentierten Schriftstellerin Angel Deverell im England des beginnenden 20. Jahrhunderts. Mit einer unbändigen Kreativität und Leidenschaft kämpft sich die junge Schriftstellerin aus ihren bescheidenen Verhältnissen frei. Angels Traum von Erfolg, Ruhm und Liebe scheint in Erfüllung zu gehen. Ein rasanter gesellschaftlicher Aufstieg folgt, der ihr schon bald ein Leben in Luxus ermöglicht.

Als ihr der talentierte, wenn auch erfolglose Maler Esmé begegnet, glaubt Angel einen Seelenverwandten gefunden zu haben und verliebt sich Hals über Kopf in den Lebemann. Obwohl sich die junge Frau nie sicher ist, ob Esmé sie oder ihr Geld liebt, hält sie an dieser großen Liebe fest. Doch dann erfährt ihr Leben auf tragische Weise eine Wendung.

François Ozon :

It is the fifth time that I call upon Philippe Rombi for the music of one of my films. For Angel, as for Swimming Pool, the character is a writer. In Swimming Pool, I had asked Philippe to create a music which melody and orchestration would be built in parallel of the writing of the Sarah Morton’s book. For Angel, it is not a question of a book but of a life which is built under our eyes, that of a female writer whom one follows from his adolescence until his death by sharing his dreams, his emotions, his successes and his failures. The romantic universe and work over time were elements which implied a full and symphonic music in the tradition of the Hollywood melodramas of the Forties - Fifties, to which I wished to pay homage.

I particularly had in my head the musics of Frank Skinner composed for the melodramas of Douglas Sirk. At the beginning of the assembly, I used them and I found that they functioned, but I realized that for spectators of today, they were felt in an ironic and distanciée way. I then asked Philippe Rombi to be inspired some for the orchestration, and to dare very lyric moments while allowing the spectator to be identified in Angel, by creating topics which reflect its secret aspirations.

With its usual requirement, its labour force and its talent, Philippe knew to surprise me and compose an original music whose melody beauty and the richness return mélancoliquement to the life dreamed of Angel Deverell.