Main Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Claude Mann, Paul Guers, Henri Nassiet
Release Year: 1963
Country: FR
Run Time: 85 minutes
Plot
Bay of the Angels (La Baie des anges) stars Jeanne Moreau as a middle-aged Parisian gambling addict who leaves her husband and children and heads for the roulette tables of Nice. There she meets young and handsome Claude Mann--a meeting which coincides with Moreau's first winning streak. She latches onto Mann in the belief that he's a good luck charm, and remains with him even when she starts losing heavily. Mann, emotionally drained, walks out of the relationship. The film ends with Mann entreating Moreau to return with him to the bourgeois existence that she'd escaped in the first scene. Bay of the Angels was directed by Jacques Demy, just before he achieved international fame with his musical films Young Girls of Rochefort and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
While Bay of Angels is not one of Jacques Demy's top-tier films, it nevertheless has a charm and appeal that make it well worth watching. An examination of obsession, and specifically of an obsession with gambling, Angels recreates for the audience the extremes that come with this obsession: it recreates the rush of winning as well as the crush and despair of losing, illuminating how that despair can be sublimated and denied but percolates beneath the surface nonetheless. Demy's screenplay is insightful to a point, but it falls short of providing the depth it desires. But Demy's direction makes up for this shortfall, and the seemingly abrupt way in which he brings about the ending is a masterful stroke. Demy is greatly aided by the incomparable Jeanne Moreau, whose commanding, enticing, totally captivating performance is the primary reason that Angels must be seen. She dominates the film with a mesmerizing turn. In contrast, Claude Mann is totally out of his element here. An attractive man, he has little charisma and his dramatic talents are wan. Moreau wipes the floor with him, and this seriously unbalances the film. The production looks very good, with atmospheric black-and-white lensing by Jean Rabier, and Michel Legrand's dramatic score also earns points. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
