Arquivo

Adaptation of a novel written in the fifties by the English writer Elizabeth Taylor. A grocer’ daughter dreams of becoming a famous writer and inhabiting the gorgeous country mansion that she often walks past but cannot enter. The precocious Angel pours all her fanciful romantic longings into flowery prose that eventually attracts the attention of a well-heeled London publisher. Fame soon follows, washing over her like a tidal wave. All of this is an excuse for François Ozon to recreate the style and look of the great Hollywood studio melodramas of the thirties and forties. He summons up a candy-colored world of fantasy and illusion in a series of stunning set-pieces, as the plush excesses of London supplant the homespun existence of the young Angel. But, she quickly reveals her true nature when she refuses to change one word of her manuscript. Nevertheless, her books are snapped up by Edwardian society, turning Angel into an insufferable and arrogant young woman whom none dare challenge. It’ the first English-spoken feature by filmmaker François Ozon.