Mark of an Angel

“I can’t think why she came,” Claire says after another seemingly chance encounter with Elsa. But as the camera pans out, framing her picture perfect family we begin to wonder if all is not as it seems in Safy Nebbou’s Mark of an Angel. When picking her son up from a party Elsa (Catherine Fort) notices a little girl, Lola. Convinced she is her own child who died seven years previous she shrewdly befriends the mother Claire (Sandrine Bonnaire) and gradually insinuates herself into their lives. There is a jittery sense of unease throughout, from the stark white of the ice rink where suspicions are first aroused to the dramatic ballet recital where Elsa watches Lola from the wings, bathed in an eerie red light. Yet the acting never quite convinces. Veterans Bonnaire and Frot keep a lid on their emotions but when they finally let go it seems forced. However, despite a meandering pace, the surprising twist is worth the wait.