Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Am I Missing Something?

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Angèle is a young woman, trying to renew contact with her son, living with his grandparents. She is, after serving some years in prison, conscious of the difficulty to be a mother. A good mother. She is the reason for her husbands death. But, as she says: an accident. With her not easy background she meets the shy fisherman Tony to work for him (in mind a marriage that makes possible to get her child - be near him. The grandparents have the custody. Her son, having not seen his mother during prison-time is cautious. Angèle must prove the judge in charge of her case her capability as a mother and married woman. Angèle's background, the shy Tony, his suspicious mother and her sons grandparents are serious difficulties waiting for her to take. But: now and then polarities are not a hinder but the help as only way of understanding when nothing is left and the base for marriage. Yohan asks Tony if muscles bites. The answer: the three drive to the beach for the answer of the boy's question. His question can be regarded as metaphor. Both Angèle and Tony are closed as clams. But sometimes: if time and space permits polarities to decide can polarities be of help for each other. Clams do not bite

They've done it again: French cinema has added a new female director to its already swollen pantheon so now the likes of Danielle Thompson, Marion Vernous, Tonie Marshall, Nicole Garcia, Anne Fontaine, Agnes Jaoui et al can make way for Alix Delacorte to take her place alongside them. This is nothing short of a minor gem and the fact that it reminds us superficially of other charming films - Je vous trouve tres beau, Marius et Jeannette - is a positive rather than a negative. Not unlike The Apartment it starts out as one thing and then seamlessly becomes something else. Working from her own Original screenplay Delacorte has chosen all her actors well, none more than the two leads, Clotilde Hesme and Gregory Gadebois, a pair I noticed first in small roles in yet another exceptional French film Le Chignon d'Olga. For the first two or three reels Delacorte is happy to let us see the negative aspects of Angele and have her unable to penetrate the defensive shell of Gadebois and conclude the relationship has nowhere to go and then, the humanity that has been simmering beneath the surface in both cases bursts out joyously and we have a charming love story on our hands. Like Ariane Ariscade the face of Clotilde Hesme in repose in not so prepossessing but when she smiles she can, just like Ariscade, light up a whole city. Two well deserved Caesars for the two leads prove that just occasionally Awards committees can get it right.

Having been a journalist and a documentary maker before turning to fiction, it is hardly surprising to find that Alix Delaporte has a talent for capturing reality. In "Angèle et Tony", the time is now and it shows: Angèle, Tony, their family and friends are indeed people that you could meet down the street, at the baker's or at your local café. Likewise, the place, a small fishing harbor in Normandy, is anything but artificial. Shot entirely on location in Port-en-Bessin (a small town by the sea which was already the setting of Marcel Carné's "La Marie du Port"in 1949 and of Zanuck's "The Longest Day" in 1962), the film gives you the feeling you have always lived there, all that lacks being the spray of the sea and the smell of fish! Socially speaking, "Angèle et Tony" is grounded in reality as well. The hardships of being among the last fishermen in France and the struggle to survive as such are aspects that are examined seriously, albeit briefly, through descriptions, conversations and tense confrontation with the police. Last but not least, the relationships between the characters ring true: Angèle, Tony, Tony's mother, face and confront each other using ordinary everyday words, in close connection with their immediate environment.On the other hand, Alix Delaporte does not mistake realism for naturalism, which is a good point. Sure, Angèle has a troubled past but the writer-director does not dwell on it. Agreed, a fisherman's life is no life of roses, but Alix Delaporte shows them taking action not moaning about their lot. Granted, the relationships between Angèle and Tony are difficult but this is not the point. The real point is to show how these strangers, who have apparently nothing in common, will open to each other and try to exist as a couple, becoming better human beings in the process. Such a positive dynamic makes "Angèle et Tony", a potentially depressing drama, a pleasant movie, both instructive and entertaining.The leading couple is a sure-handed choice and contributes to the success of Alix Delaporte's first fictional effort. Clotilde Hesme constantly finds the right note, managing to combine stubborn aggressiveness and touching frailty. And Gregory Gadebois turns in an interesting performance as a life-like fisherman, withdrawn and brooding, but hiding romantic feelings behind this facade. His restrained acting style is so natural that you would never think he is a member of the Comédie-Française.All in all a good film, but which could have been even better had the director avoided a few lengthy passages, in particular when it comes to Angèle riding her bike. Why spend so much film time on scenes that do not bring much to the whole thing (Okay Angèle zigzags, a metaphor of her wayward ways, but she does it too often and too long : five seconds are enough to get the point!) while there are more interesting aspects which would benefit from a more in-depth approach? However this is only a minor defect and it should not deter you from spending an hour and a half in the company of Angèle and Tony.

I was hoping this film would be good and I wasn't at all disappointed. It was lovely.I saw Clotilde Hesme in Le fils de l'épicier, another little charmer. Her smile lit up the screen in that one, and it does the same in this one. She's an excellent actress. The acting is all good, actually. The story is simple, and predictable enough if you want to predict things, but it's very nicely told, with delightful understatement and restraint. The film is beautifully photographed, again with great restraint, so that the beauty of the northern sea and sky and the pale and subtle colours of the landscape are allowed to emerge and speak for themselves. The film doesn't pretend to be anything more than a simple romance. It certainly doesn't pretend to be great. But it is in fact very good.