★★★★★

UK /France / Belgium. Directed by Francois Ozon / Screenplay by Francois Ozon and Martin Crisp (dialogue) / Cinematography by Denis Lenoir /Edited by Muriel Breton / Music by Philippe Rombi / Production design by Katia Wyszkop / Art Direction by Alexandra Lassen / Set decoration by Gerard Marcireau / Costume design by Pascaline Chavanne. Starring Romola Garai, Sam Neill, Michael Fassbender, Lucy Russell, Charlotte Rampling, Jemma Powell.

Angel is an English-language masterpiece from Francois Ozon, in which he brings to dizzying fruition as in none other of his films his penchant for combining a heady theatricality with penetrating psychological insight and a serious underlying intent. Inspired by the adulation accorded to the Edwardian pulp novelist Marie Corelli, Romola Garai as Angel is rightly the narcissistic star in its firmament, in this case, the faintly vulgar Victorian pile of Tyntesfield, as resolutely full of itself as Angel. The supporting cast is peerless, though none gets a look in when Angel is about. Read More