Ricky

It is good to know that no animals or flying babies were harmed in the making of this film! That would be sensationally awful – really – and I can see that is why film-maker Francois Ozon made sure to put that in the credits of his film. [hahah] This 2009 film set in blue-collar France, follows a chemical factory worker’s initial bathroom affair with a hairy stranger to the development of a very odd family circle; newest family member, Ricky; flying away.

One of the stranger films I’ve seen lately; and attracted to it because it was a French dramatic fantasy, and lovely idea to tell a story about. But I didn't find it exactly funny, insightful or uplifting; in that a single mother is struggling to make ends meet in a tiny apartment and has nothing else going on in her life besides getting knocked-up by a stranger in the bathroom; and she is so tired from twisting bottle caps that she forgets her child’s helmet when she shuttles around on a sketchy motor-cycle.

If anything can be said about this film; is that there were some wonderful cinematography moments and pristine special effects with the child Arthur Peyret’s (Ricky) wings. I liked also the believability within the scenes; with blood on pillows, the young daughter’s pain captured in the close-up’s of her eyes, and the gritty/dirty places that can be found in any country. It was also one of the first French films that I’ve seen that ‘did-not’ show the Eiffel Tower.

I love magical, inspirational films and I thought that Ozon would take time to show the audience more of the shock, turmoil and alarming moments within the family, if something like this indeed happened. Doing more research on how something like this may actually happen, would be necessary I feel so that we could connect more with the main characters and wonder if it indeed could happen again. I disliked that the film ended abruptly; leaving its viewers in a state of terrible limbo; and in turn making the mother played by Alexandra Lamy seemingly psychotic.