First timer Cara lights up the screen: BRIAN VINER reviews The Face of an Angel

By Brian Viner, Film Critic for the Daily Mail

Published: 20:17 EST, 26 March 2015 | Updated: 03:16 EST, 27 March 2015

The Face of an Angel (15)

Verdict:  Self-indulgent at best

Rating:

With Italian courts this week prevaricating over whether or not to uphold the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in 2007, Michael Winterbottom’s film is nothing if not timely.

It at first seems to be a thinly fictionalised account of the legal saga, seen through the eyes of Thomas Lang (Daniel Bruhl), a troubled film director trying to rekindle a once-promising career.

Kercher died in Perugia; here, the story is moved to Siena. Kate Beckinsale plays an American journalist who has written a book about the case, and acts as Thomas’s guide. 

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Stand out: First time film actress Cara Delevigne gives a 'terrific performance' in a 'self-indulgent' film

Stand out: First time film actress Cara Delevigne gives a 'terrific performance' in a 'self-indulgent' film

She is plainly based on a real person, the writer Barbie Latza Nadeau, whose book about Knox was called Angel Face. 

Thomas, less plainly, appears to be based on Winterbottom himself.

Whether he is or not, the director toys with our expectations, not altogether successfully, by making the story more about Thomas than the murder or the trial.

As he starts having disturbing dreams and visions, I found myself yearning for the straightforward thriller Winterbottom presumably chose not to make. 

But then he’s never been a straightforward filmmaker, and he’s certainly due some credit here for teasing a terrific performance from model Cara Delevingne, in her first major acting role, as a fun-loving young waitress who seems to be Kercher’s alter ego.

The final credits dedicate the film to Meredith’s memory. She’d have been served better by a less self-indulgent picture.

 

 

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