L'empreinte de l'ange (2008)

Director:

Safy Nebbou

Writers:

Safy Nebbou (writer)
Cyril Gomez-Mathieu (writer)

Release Date:

13 August 2008 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Elsa, a woman with a long history of depression in the midst of a divorce from her husband of 12 years...

Plot Keywords:

Obsession | Depression | Divorce | Loss Of Daughter | Nosebleed

Cast

Catherine Frot	...	Elsa Valentin
Sandrine Bonnaire	...	Claire Vigneaux
Wladimir Yordanoff	...	Bernard Vigneaux
Antoine Chappey	...	Antoine
Michel Aumont	...	Alain Valentin
Michèle Moretti	...	Colette
Sophie Quinton	...	Laurence
Geneviève Rey-Penchenat	...	Mme Corlet
Héloïse Cunin	...	Lola
Arthur Vaughan-Whitehead	...	Thomas
Zacharie Chasseriaud	...	Jérémy
Mehdi Nebbou	...	Le policier (as Jérémie Nebbou)
Marie-Julie Baup	...	L'infirmière
Pascal Elso	...	L'homme du bar
Isabelle Siou	...	Une amie
Sarah Stern	...	La vendeuse
Marie Montegani	...	Catherine
Clémentine Yelnik	...	Anna
Nouma Bordj	...	La caissière
Michel Saint-Jean	...	Un ami
Alexandre Delamadeleine	...	Le serveur
Cédric Kerguillec	...	Le marié
Eric Galienne	...	Le danseur
Marie-Claire Sadler	...	La prof de danse
Cyril Gomez-Mathieu	...	Le barman
Safy Nebbou	...	Le client de la pharmacie

Directed by
Safy Nebbou

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Cyril Gomez-Mathieu		writer
Safy Nebbou		writer

Produced by
Michel Saint-Jean	....	producer

Original Music by
Hugues Tabar-Nouval

Cinematography by
Eric Guichard

Film Editing by
Bernard Sasia

Production Design by
Cyril Gomez-Mathieu

Set Decoration by
Olivia Bloch-Lainé

Makeup Department
Fabienne Robineau	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Thomas Coudriet	....	assistant unit manager
Sébastien Delepine	....	assistant unit manager
Benjamin Dewaele	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alexandra Denni	....	first assistant director
Marie Doller	....	assistant director: pre-shoot
Juliette Maillard	....	first assistant director
Charlotte Marrel	....	assistant director

Art Department
Wilfrid Charua	....	painter
Jonathan Delerue	....	storyboard artist
Francis Guibet	....	assistant art director
Florent Maillot	....	property master
Nicolas Lanvin	....	swing gang intern (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jérôme Aghion	....	boom operator
Esther Frey	....	assistant sound editor
Benoît Hillebrant	....	sound editor
Pascal Jasmes	....	boom operator
Anne Le Campion	....	sound re-recording mixer
Alain Lévy	....	post-synchronization
Frank Struys	....	sound
Rodolphe Vassails	....	sound

Stunts
Francis Bataille	....	stunt driver
Cyrille Dufaut	....	stunt driver
Laurent Larrieu	....	stunt coordinator: marine unit
Sophie Lascombes	....	stunts
Patrick Ronchin	....	stunt coordinator
Sébastien Seveau	....	stunt driver
Carole Vérité	....	stunts
Daniel Vérité	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Jacques Ballard	....	camera assistant: underwater unit
Matthieu-David Cournot	....	camera assistant: underwater unit
Jean-Pierre Garbin	....	electrician: additional
Mathieu Le Bothlan	....	first assistant camera
Laurent Pouchard	....	grip
Loïc Savouré	....	additional first assistant camera
Benjamin Speyer	....	crane technician
Antoine Struyf	....	assistant camera
Philippe Vene	....	camera operator: underwater unit

Casting Department
Julie David	....	casting assistant
Agathe Hassenforder	....	casting: children

Editorial Department
Ornella Del-Vecchio	....	digital conformation
Frederic Jupin	....	digital conformation

Other crew
Lysiane Biagini	....	location scout
Rachel Corlet-Soulier	....	script supervisor
Laure Darie	....	production secretary
Philippe Letode	....	location scout
Corinne Saglio	....	production accountant

Production Companies

• Diaphana Films
• France 2 Cinéma (co-production)
• Canal+ (participation)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• Uni Étoile 5 (in association with)
• Banque Populaire Images 8 (in association with)
• Soficinéma 3 (in association with)

Distributors

• Benelux Film Distribution (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Diaphana Films (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• Metrodome Distribution (2008) (UK) (theatrical)
• Odeon (2008) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Xenix Filmdistribution (2008-2009) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• KNM Home Entertainment (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• Lumière Home Entertainment (2009) (Belgium) (DVD)
• Lumière Home Entertainment (2009) (Belgium) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Lumière Home Entertainment (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Lumière Home Entertainment (2009) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Also Known As:

"Angel of Mine" - UK (DVD title), USA
"Mark of an Angel" - International (English title), UK (alternative title)
"L'empreinte" - France (TV title)
"The Mark of an Angel" - International (English title) (alternative title)
"Das Zeichen des Engels" - Germany (imdb display title)
"La marca del ángel" - Spain (imdb display title)
"To simadi enos angelou" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | France:U | Netherlands:12

Company:

Diaphana Films

Tense and exciting

I often tell people that if they want to see a film – avoid the trailer. In the case of 'Mark of an Angel' I'd tell them to avoid the poster. While so many trailers these days seem to be potted synopses of the whole film ('Public Enemies' being a massive case in point) the tag-line of this film may give a way a crucial plot element of the story. Which would be a pity as this is a really first-class film. Class being the operative word given the acting talent on show here.

Sandrine Bonnaire can do no wrong (unless it's required of her) and Catherine Frot has long since masked the art of barely suppressed tension and panic. Here she really brings it to the fore as she stars as Elsa, a woman with a long history of depression who develops a fascination with a seven year old girl she sees at a birthday party when she comes to collect her son. Determined to find out more about the girl she uses her son as a way in to the family ensuring that he befriends the girl's brother so that she can then befriend the girl's mother Claire (Bonnaire). She uses her son more and more in her pursuit of this obsession telling her employees that he is seriously ill so that she can run off and resume her stalking. She tells her parents she is dating so that they will baby-sit and she can do the same thing. At first Claire doesn't suspect anything but gradually notices that Elsa is paying too much attention to Lola – the girl in question. Meanwhile we are starting to realise why. Throughout the film you are not so much on the edge of your seat as pressed back into it. The tension as you wait desperately for Elsa to be found out is excruciating and when one particularly dramatic scene ends with what would normally be seen as the cop-out of Elsa suddenly waking up – you are just hugely relieved – they haven't caught her yet. And that's the thing – your sympathy is completely with Elsa, you cringe as she keeps accidentally turning up at every event involving Lola and her mother and you shudder as you watch this woman falling slowly apart. Frot really lays it on in this but Sandrine Bonnaire certainly holds her own when it comes her turn to convey the creeping (and increasing ) fear of this woman that is taking hold of her. There is one scene which is pure Hitchcock and clearly meant to be. Lola is performing in a ballet watched by her parents and brother in the audience. Claire notices her looking offstage to the wings a lot and when she turns herself she catches a glimpse of someone there. Is it Elsa? She can't be sure and she keeps straining between dancers to see but only gets the briefest of fleeting glances. It's an incredibly tense sequence of "Is it her?"/ "Is it not her?" made all the more so by the fact that we know – it is. Add to that the fact that the ballet the girls are dancing to is a musical simulation of a clock – ("Tick Tock" "Tick Tock") - and you're now pressed back into the seat behind you. This really is great stuff.