The Face Of An Angel is the latest from Michael Winterbottom demands to be seen at
least twice so you can fully interrogate and understand the film’s many layers.
Based on the Meredith Kercher murder case, Paul Viragh’s
inspired script not only reflects on the media’s role in reporting the case,
but also, via its framing device, an empathetic touch, and an unexpected dose
of horror movie chills, becomes substantially more than a whodunit.
Daniel Bruhl (Nikki Lauda in Rush) is excellent as the
writer/director suffering writer’s block who is commissioned by the movie execs
from hell to create a film about the case. Off to Italy he goes, to immerse
himself in the case’s locale.
A combination of drugs, booze and his desire to use Dante's Inferno as a thematic device for his script, throw him into his own circles of hell.
Once there, he finds himself being pushed and pulled by a
handful of key supporting players: Kate Beckinsale’s journalist; Corrado
Invernizzi’s disturbing local expert; and Cara Delevingne’s English
student/waitress.
It would have been easy for each of these three to be 2D,
but Viragh and Winterbottom give them all enough time and space for the
audience to really feel their impact on Bruhl.
A film of intelligence and heart.
Score: 9/10
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