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Angel Heart is a 1987 horror 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, but it has a more somber tone.
A highly atmospheric film, Angel Heart combines elements of film noir, hard-boiled detective stories and horror.
Plot
Mickey Rourke plays Harry Angel, a seedy private investigator in 1955 New York City. Louis Cyphre (De Niro) hires Angel to locate Johnny Favourite, 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 Favourite's records and wants Angel to find out what happened, as Favourite owed a debt to Cyphre.
But there's more to the case than initially appears, as the debt in question is Favourite'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 Favourite'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 Favourite. Notable is the film's disturbing twist ending, in which Angel must finally face the fact that he is Johnny Favourite 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 (Favourite) 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-breed daughter. Favourite 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 Favourite realizes his true identity that Cyphre can claim what is his: Favourite'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.
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.
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.
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 Favourite.
- 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 Favourite 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 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 stares you right 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 Favourite: 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.
- Dogs: Any time that Harry encounters dogs throughout the film, their reaction to him is of a violent nature. It is believed that dogs possess a sixth sense, and their reactions indicate that Harry's soul is damaged.
Cast
References
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