Angel

The satirical novel by author Elizabeth Taylor provides ripe material for the first English-language film from French director François Ozon (Swimming Pool). It owes a debt to Gone with the Wind for both its florid visuals and a heroine you're meant to love to hate. Romola Garai plays Angel, a bratty grocer's daughter who dreams of fame and fortune, and finds it when her trashy romantic novels are snapped up by Edwardian society. Angel quickly acquires a devoted assistant, Nora (Lucy Russell), who is madly in love with her, and marries Nora's brother, Esmé, a tortured artist. But her success doesn't bring her happiness, and her relationships are toxic. Garai gives an impressive performance in a role which means she is on screen most of the time, and there are decent sets and costumes, and solid supporting performances from Sam Neill and Charlotte Rampling as Angel's publisher and his wife. However, the arrogant Angel is not the most likeable of characters. Nor was Scarlett O'Hara, of course, but it's hard to imagine audiences giving as much of a damn for the lead character of this old-fashioned melodrama as they did for Vivien Leigh's spirited heroine back in 1939.