Angèle et Tony (2010)

Critic Reviews

• Philip French, Observer [UK]

  Delaporte, a documentarist making her feature debut, breathes life into the scenes where the reluctant antiheroine is instructed in recognising fish and gutting them. The story however carries little conviction.

• Paul Gallagher, The List

  Hesme and Gadebois are both very good, somehow convincing us that this odd couple may inexplicably be right for each other, and the seaport setting is given a touch of poetry by Mathieu Maestracci's gentle score.

• Xan Brooks, Guardian [UK]

  At its best, Delaporte's film gives the impression of being uncovered as opposed to constructed, like an eccentric bit of driftwood exposed at low tide.

• Leo Robson, Financial Times

  The details of Normandy fishing life are rendered with surprising care.

• Wally Hammond, Time Out

  This is a sprightly and economical debut from French former journalist and writer-director Alix Delaporte.

• David Jenkins, Little White Lies

  Despite its faults, there's enough here to want to see what Delaporte does next. But only just.

• Tom Dawson, Total Film

  Despite a very modest budget, A&T manages to be both intimate and cinematic, fully earning its upbeat seaside finale.

• Adam Smith, Empire Magazine

  Immersed in the salty sea air of France's Normandy coast, Delaporte's debut is a tender tale brimming with atmosphere.

• Marty Mapes, Movie Habit

  Refreshing and simple love story about a fisherman and a parolee

• Jim Schembri, The Age (Australia)

  (A) beautiful wisp of a film... Simple, subdued, affecting.

• Jason Di Rosso, MovieTime, ABC Radio National

  Delaporte's skill is to show how very different chapters of our lives intersect in mysterious, unexpected ways, sometimes affording us insight and sometimes even grace. Like a healing poetry.

• Julie Rigg, MovieTime, ABC Radio National

  Congratulations to Alix Delporte on her first feature. She is a filmmaker to watch.

• Leigh Paatsch, Herald Sun (Australia)

  Debutante writer-director Alix Delaporte keeps our eyes fixed firmly on the title characters, releasing information about what might be keeping them together on a teasingly selective basis.

• Lisa Nesselson, sbs.com.au

  There's an organic quality from start to satisfying finish that bodes well for Delaporte's future as a director.

• David Stratton, At the Movies (Australia)

  It's a small film but it has quite a lot going for it because also there's a sort of subtext about over-fishing and the regulations that have been brought to bear on these fishermen.

• Margaret Pomeranz, At the Movies (Australia)

  This is a tiny film with a nice heart.

• Sandra Hall, Sydney Morning Herald

  The gentle pace of her direction, her wry tone and dreamy contemplation of a place that she clearly knows very well and loves very much add up to a delicate and disarming film.

• Cara Nash, FILMINK (Australia)

  The predominant downbeat scenes are uninvolving, and the happier ones are worse. To add insult to injury, the ending is feeble and contrived.

• Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile

  a rather perfunctory film about an odd little romance that invites us to shrug in that French way, as if to say, oh well ..

• Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile

  I really enjoyed the journey and the resolution involving both the men in Angèle's life is nicely done with deft understatement

Read all 20 critic reviews