The production, also known as Le Secret de l’Angelus, premiered on December 20 at the Espace Saint-Michel, the second oldest cinema in Europe and one of the most iconic in the French capital. This notable premiere contrasts sharply with the modest reception the film received in Catalonia and Spain, where it premiered on November 22, 2024.
Starting in January, the film has secured a minimum three-week run in Paris and will be released in about fifty theaters across France, including cities like Limoges, Nîmes, and Toulouse, thanks to a prestigious distributor.
French critics have received Le Secret de l’Angelus as an elegant, playful, and nuanced work, capable of combining suspense, humor, and lightness.
The story is set in 1963 and recounts how Salvador Dalí, while preparing a party, receives a journalist interested in a lost treatise from the Nazi invasion era. The film explores the obsessive fascination of the genius from the Empordà region with Millet's painting L’Àngelus.
Critics particularly highlighted the "hypnotic" performance by Charansonnet, who conveys both Dalí's public exuberance and the intimate conflict tormenting him, as well as the dreamlike atmosphere that permeates the feature film, which also features Montse Alcoverro and Ricard Balada.
