Angel-A

In 1994 a Gallup Poll revealed that 72 per cent of Americans believed in the existence of angels. A decade later the figure had risen to an alarming 78 per cent, accompanying the proliferation of movie angels and the elevation of It's a Wonderful Life to canonical status. The latest manifestation is the appearance of a tall, leggy, confident Danish blonde (Rie Rasmussen) to help out the stocky, dark, troubled André (Jamel Debbouze), a Frenchman of North African parentage. He's contemplating throwing himself into the Seine in Angel-A, a film by ageing enfant terrible Luc Besson. The film's title signals her heavenly origins from the start, and like Travolta's louche angel in Michael, she smokes, drinks and uses her sexual charms to fix the gangsters who threaten the sad, abject André.

It's a soggy affair, short on laughs and lacking chemistry between hero and heroine. But it's shot in black-and-white by outstanding French cinematographer, Thierry Arbogast, and looks terrific.