Saint Ange (2004)

In 1958, in the French Alp, the young servant Anna Jurin arrives in Saint Ange Orphanage to work with Helena while the orphans moved to new families with the administrator Francard. Anna, ... See full summary »

Director:

Pascal Laugier

Writer:

Pascal Laugier

Stars:

Virginie Ledoyen, Lou Doillon, Catriona MacColl

Cast

Credited cast:
Virginie Ledoyen	...	Anna Jurin
Lou Doillon	...	Judith
Catriona MacColl	...	Francard
Dorina Lazar	...	Ilinca
Virginie Darmon	...	Mathilde
Jérôme Soufflet	...	Daniel
Marie Herry	...	Marie
Eric Prat	...	Le responsable des services sociaux
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marin Chouquet	...	Alex

Storyline

In 1958, in the French Alp, the young servant Anna Jurin arrives in Saint Ange Orphanage to work with Helena while the orphans moved to new families with the administrator Francard. Anna, who is secretly pregnant, meets the last orphan , Judith, left behind because of her mental problems, and they become closer when Anna find that Judith also hear voices and footsteps of children. Anna investigate the place trying to disclose the secret about the invisible children.

---

Plot Keywords:

orphanage | war orphan | insanity | dying in childbirth | female nudity | 

---

Taglines:

You're staying here alone? Are you sure?

---

Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some nudity and disturbing images

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

23 June 2004 (France)

Also Known As:

House of Voices

Filming Locations:

Romania

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castel Film Romania,Eskwad,France 3 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot back to back in two versions, one in French and the other in English.

---

Goofs

The movie is supposed to take place in 1958, as the opening scenes state. When the children leave the house in the beginning of the movie, one of the cars accompanying the buses full of children is clearly a white Peugeot 404. Peugeot introduced this model in 1960, and made it available to the public a year later.

---

Connections

Referenced in Viande d'origine française (2009)

---

Soundtracks

I'm in the mood for love
Music by Jimmy McHugh
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Performed by Vera Lynn, Charlie Kunz and the Casani Club Orchestra

User Reviews

Did I watch another movie?

For the life of me, I cannot understand the fierce and almost resentful nature of many of the opinions given here. I was fully prepared to see another one of those over-blown affairs that put style over substance and usually bore me to bits after 15 minutes or so of their „Amélie"-type smugness and undeserved self-confidence. In fact. SAINT ANGE is a very careful, very sensitive story of a young woman who struggles with her feelings about her impending motherhood. The ending made perfect sense to me, whether read as a ghost story of sorts or a paranoid fantasy. The actresses are uniformly excellent, particularly Virginie Ledoyen and Lou Doillon, as is Catriona MacColl, who you might still remember from those colorful Fulci extravaganzas from the early eighties. The splendid photography makes good use of the grey and cold blue colours of the orphanage, which is embedded in green and brown tones – Mother Nature. The fantasy ending also introduces a clinical white for good measure. In view of the many cinematic exercises of today that talk their subtexts to death, SAINT ANGE uses a formal elegance that is breath-taking. Actually, I didn't find one single frame that was superfluous. In a way, the film also shares several themes with Laugier's well-received and harrowing MARTYRS, as it is basically another – albeit more tender – tale of a bruised young woman under dire circumstances. The ending of MARTYRS can also be read as a paranoid fantasy, with traces of hope hidden in a complex framework of depressing human depravity. No, I liked SAINT ANGE a lot. And, by the way, Joe Lo Duca – who started with Sam Raimi's THE EVIL DEAD – delivered a haunting and memorable music score. An excellent movie.