Angel Heart

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For other uses, see Angel Heart (disambiguation).
Angel Heart
Directed by Alan Parker
Produced by Elliott Kastner
Alan Marshall
Written by Novel:
William Hjortsberg
Screenplay:
Alan Parker
Starring Mickey Rourke
Robert De Niro
Lisa Bonet
Charlotte Rampling
Music by Trevor Jones
Cinematography Michael Seresin
Editing by Gerry Hambling
Distributed by TriStar Pictures
Release date(s) March 6, 1987
Running time 113 minutes
Language English
Budget $17,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Angel Heart is a 1987 movie written and directed by Alan Parker, starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro and Lisa Bonet. The film is adapted from the novel Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg, and is generally faithful to the novel with the exceptions being the introduction of a child of Epiphany Proudfoot conceived at a voodoo ceremony by "a devil", and that the novel never leaves New York City, whereas the film opts for a New Orleans ending, and has a more somber tone.

A highly atmospheric film, Angel Heart combines elements of film noir, hard-boiled detective stories and horror.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The movie opens in January 1955. Mickey Rourke plays Harry Angel, a seedy private investigator in New York City. Louis Cyphre (De Niro) hires Angel to locate Johnny Favorite, a popular big band crooner who was severely injured in World War II and hospitalized with profound neurological trauma. Cyphre discovers that the hospital may have falsified Favorite's records and wants Angel to find out what happened, as Favorite owed a debt to Cyphre.

But there's more to the case than initially appears, as the debt in question is Favorite's soul, and Cyphre is not human – his very name, Louis Cyphre, is a play on words, sounding like Lucifer when said out loud. His true objective is strongly hinted at by a scene in which Cyphre carefully shells and salts a hard-boiled egg before slowly biting down into it with obvious relish – after remarking that in many cultures it represents the soul.

Angel travels to New Orleans as he digs deeper into the case, delving into a world of voodoo and Satanism and growing increasingly worried for his own safety and sanity. As each witness or informant he speaks to turns up dead, Angel becomes a suspect in their murders. And as Harry Angel discovers more and more of the truth behind Favorite's fate, he experiences eerie flashbacks of Satanic rituals, a Black Mass and a string of murders. He meets Epiphany Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet), daughter of a voodoo practitioner who knew Favorite. Notable is the film's disturbing twist ending, in which Angel must finally face the fact that he is Johnny Favorite himself, having abducted and, through a Satanic ritual, taken the place and identity of the original Harry Angel, a soldier returning from the war whom he (Favorite) randomly picked off the street. The revelation of an alter ego reverses his role in the film from protagonist to antagonist, as he is the one, acting under the "guidance" of Mr. Cyphre, who has been responsible for the mysterious murders throughout the film. He discovers, after having sex with Epiphany Proudfoot and then killing her during one of his Luciferian blackouts, that she was his half-caste daughter. Favorite had promised his soul to the Devil in exchange for worldly success but then tried to renege by taking the place of another. It is only after Favorite realizes his true identity that Cyphre can claim what is his: Favorite's very soul. Over the end credits, there is a lengthy sequence of a silhouetted Angel descending down and down and ever downward in an ancient iron Otis elevator cage, apparently on his way to Hell.

[edit] Response

Angel Heart gained attention and controversy even before its release. Bonet was previously known for her role on the family-oriented The Cosby Show, and her extended, graphic and blood-drenched love scene with Rourke required being trimmed of several seconds to secure the film an 'R' rating on initial release.

Some blamed the controversy for Bonet's departure from The Cosby Show, even though she starred in another Cosby-produced program, A Different World which premiered in the Fall of 1987.

Angel Heart received mixed reviews, and wasn't especially successful financially, just about breaking even. [1]

After being released on home video, however, Angel Heart became something of a cult film, known for its spooky tone, excellent cinematography (by Michael Seresin), a sad and spooky score (by Trevor Jones), and an unusual but effective blend of genres.

[edit] Themes

There are repeated motifs in the film:

  • The Girl of My Dreams: Harry is haunted by this tune during the entire film, and the film score recycles it numerous times during the film. He later learns from Epiphany, who was singing the lyrics in a bathtub, that it was Johnny Favourite's best-known tune. Cyphre later plays a phonograph of it when forcing Harry to remember his life as Favorite. The actual song was written by Sunny Clapp in 1927, recorded by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra featuring the vocal by Kenny Sargent. The vocal in the film is speeded up from the original 78 rpm to 83 rpm to gain a higher, more warbling effect.
  • Nightmares: Harry has numerous nightmare sequences throughout the movie, where he would see a figure wearing black clothes all over its body, not revealing who the person is until the end of the story, when we find out it was Louis Cyphre, who is seen wearing the black clothing outside Harry's apartment when he finally admits his fate at the end of the film. We are led to believe that Harry was being possessed by the Devil (Louis Cyphre) during these moments, since at the precise time when Harry is having these hallucinative dreams, the murders are taking place and Harry has no knowledge of the murders taking place until Louis 'restores' his memory at the end of the movie, once he reveals who did the deed.
  • Weapons: Harry can be seen finding the exact murder weapon, every time that he visits a character, before their death, which foreshadows the act that Harry carries out on all of the characters that end up being dead. For example, while searching the Doctor's home for any pharmaceuticals, Harry comes across a handgun hidden in a draw, with a 'Holy Bible' which contains the handgun's rounds. Harry would later go onto kill the Doctor after interrogating him, but forgetting he even committed the act.
  • Backwards rotating fan: The theme of a backwards rotating fan is present during every episode in which Harry commits a murder offscreen, which Harry forgets about, thinking Favorite committed the murder (which turns out to be true, in a way.) It is a reference to the fan that was present at the demonic sacrifice of the original Harry Angel. The act of fanning in classic middle eastern ritual also represents the act of separating the wheat from the chaffe, the good souls from the bad.
  • The mirrors: Every time Harry looks into a mirror, he has flashbacks to the sacrifice on New Year's Eve, though presented only as obscure visual cues, accompanied by the sound of a heart beating. Cyphre taunts, "That's it, Johnny. Take a good look. No matter how cleverly you sneak up on a mirror, your reflection always looks you straight in the eye."
  • Names: The character's have special meanings in the film:
    • Harry Angel: derived from an angel, though its meaning is more clear when considering the novel on which the film is based, Falling Angel, which is synonymous with Lucifer and losing faith with God.
    • Johnny Favorite: Lucifer was known as God's favorite angel.
    • Louis Cyphre: While obviously a pun on "Lucifer", the last name also can be taken to mean cipher, a mystery.
    • Evangeline Proudfoot: In the film, it is told that Evangeline is named after the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem Evangeline, about a woman who searches for her true love. (The film's characters incorrectly say that the woman fruitlessly waited for her love to return.)
    • Epiphany Proudfoot: Implies epiphany, or revelation of mysteries, as she is the key to Harry realizing his true nature.
    • Winesap and MacIntosh: Louis Cyphre's lawyers. Apples symbolize temptation (Adam and Eve). They tempt Harry Angel with money.
  • Dogs: Any time that Harry encounters dogs throughout the film, their reaction to him is of a violent nature. It is popular superstition that dogs possess a sixth sense, and their reactions indicate that Harry's soul is damaged.

[edit] Cast

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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Films directed by Alan Parker

Our Cissy (1974) • Footsteps (1974) • The Evacuees (1975) (TV) • Bugsy Malone (1976) • Midnight Express (1978) • Fame (1980) • Shoot the Moon (1982) • Pink Floyd The Wall (1982) • Birdy (1984) • Angel Heart (1987) • Mississippi Burning (1988) • Come See The Paradise (1990) • The Commitments (1991) • The Road to Wellville (1994) • Evita (1996) • Angela's Ashes (1999) • The Life of David Gale (2003) • The Ice At The Bottom Of The World (2007) (in production) •