Grégoire reluctantly returns to the countryside in order to oversee his mother's funeral. Being back in the small town where he was raised upsets him, as he is not ready yet to accept the fact his mother died. While looking for some comfort and solace, he meets a maid named Angèle. He manages to impress her by making up he was an important manager, although he only has a minor position in a cosmetics company. After they have spent the night in a hotel, he just leaves her but she cannot forget him, in particular because he was her first lover at all. Subsequently, she follows him and even manages to get hired as the maid of one of his colleagues. However, she then has to realise that Grégoire is about to become the son-in-law of his boss. Angèle observes how he is going to marry another woman for other reasons than love.
At the Cabourg Film Festival 2003, Moré was awarded the Swann d'Or for Best Actress.
Critical response
Vincent Perez makes an interesting behind-the-camera debut with Once Upon an Angel, a smartly put together, well-cast romantic drama that just needed a little more work on the script. Tale of a simple farm girl who loses her virginity to – but not her love for – a more emotionally complex, ambitious young man doesn't add up to a great deal, but features good perfs by leads Morgane More and Guillaume Depardieu
Perez, who co-wrote the screenplay with wife, Karine Silla (Laure Grenier in the film), directs with a restraint that elegantly counterbalances the material. Although we can see the direction the film is taking, the plot devices, contrivances and import of the each scene are so understated that their impact isn't fully realised until the end-titles roll. When you reach that point, the full force of the film becomes apparent.
^"Biography // Biographie". Alexandre-Azaria.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2011. In 2002, he composed the score of the Vincent Perez film, Peau d'Ange (Once upon an Angel)...
