Angèle

A NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY

Angèle, Angèle, Angèle...

Angèle...

It happened so fast. And it was so intense.

- - Angèle, will you marry me?

It feels good to put it into words.

DIARY

I'M SUFFOCATING

FAKE

SUCCESS?

To be able to tell the story the way I experienced it.

Damn. I always look terrible whenever I use this camera.

And no one will ever be able to tell it better than I can.

No one's ever ready for this.

When I ended up being on every show overnight,

I was super happy...

but I also thought, "Why am I here? Why me?"

So I created this girl.

An improved version of myself. A combination of my fantasies.

The Little Mermaid.

A princess.

Hélène Ségara.

Priscilla. Ariana Grande.

All those I secretly wished I looked like.

Here's the thing...

I have lost the real Angèle.

LOST

I don't know who I am.

WHO I AM

1. WHO IS ANGÈLE?

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

Citizens are to stay at home in order to avoid

any kind of physical contact ...

...outside their close family circle.

All gatherings are forbidden.

Lockdown, day one.

Today is March 14, 2020.

Not sure what the weeks to come will look like.

Since I have nothing to do, I'm experimenting.

Lockdown, day five.

I feel like it's been two years since I last wrote something.

Today is March 19. This will take for-fucking-ever.

I'm sick of being

under... lock... down.

At first, I didn't want to make music.

I told myself, "I shouldn't be working. I'm on a break."

I've built a kind of shelter for myself.

With a hi-fi system and everything. The DIY way.

And that's when I wrote a lot of stuff.

- Hey! -

[distorted gentle music plays through speakers]

- - Why does it sound like this?

Why is it so saturated?

BRUSSELS ILY

APRIL 20, 2020

- -

I started thinking about another album during lockdown.

I hadn't before. I was busy touring, promoting myself.

I had no other choice but to tell myself,

"Okay. What do we do now?"

I was lucky that my first album became a success.

But I was 20 when I wrote it. Now I'm 25.

My life has changed a lot in five years.

I've experienced a lot.

I can't keep singing about the same things.

- - I don't like it. It's annoying.

I'm expected to be as successful.

It's natural to feel pressure,

but I think I'll go someplace else and try something more personal.

But I don't know where it'll take me.

WHO IS ANGÈLE?

I forgot what it was like to be on my own with my piano.

Asking questions like, "What do I want to talk about?"

"What do I really care about now?"

LOCKDOWN - DAY 36

If the pandemic hadn't happened,

I probably would have been traveling, partying...

I wouldn't have confronted these fears

in such a direct way had I been able to avoid them.

Pepette.

The chamber of secrets.

I have so much brol .

BROL - MASCULINE

MESS, CHAOS

I mean, real brol .

We might have the notebook of secrets.

I don't have my notebook?

- - Pepette is stuck.

Ah!

One notebook of secrets.

ONE LIFE

WHO IS ANGÈLE?

I write a lot because I need to...

write. That's why I write songs.

I've always written in diaries. I have so many of them.

This is really the beginning.

I didn't have any songs yet.

It's crazy how much lousy stuff I wrote.

I used to write such awful lyrics.

"Online and connected, but not to me. Waiting for a sign."

The first lyrics to "Je veux tes yeux."

The top-line was different.

Good thing I changed the top-line.

WRITTEN AT 23

"It's late. I'm in my Paris apartment. I feel like reading old notes."

"Don't know who I am anymore."

WHO I AM

"I work more than I breathe, and I'm suffocating."

I'M SUFFOCATING

"What makes me happy? Success?"

"The 350,000 followers?"

"The ten million views on 'La loi de Murphy?'"

"What makes me happy is fake."

"Me, my image. Nailing it. Me, myself, and the singer Angèle."

"Everything else is pointless. I'm ashamed of it."

"I feel a void when I get home

because I realize that this is all pointless,

fake, impalpable."

"I used to be alive. Full of doubts, questions, desires."

"Now success is my only desire."

"I run away from everything else. I used to be free."

There you go. Crazy, huh?

I USED TO BE FREE

At the same time,

I wouldn't trade my life for my old one. Even if I could.

Because what's happening to me is beautiful, and wanted.

And I worked hard for it. It's what I've always wanted.

REAL LIFE

- Hello? - Yes, hello.

Hi, Mom.

We could meet on Sunday night.

Yes, I'll be there.

We'll have fries, for a change.

- Take care. See you on Sunday. - I love you, Mom.

- I love you, dear. Bye. - Yeah. Bye.

Look. When I was a kid, this was a tower.

That was like the World Trade Center to me.

I never knew what it was for.

That was my elementary school.

We're going back to see my school.

Oh, it's amazing

to be here.

To find myself here.

Crocodiles!

I must've spent five years of my life waiting for the bus here.

My parents used to be a bit late.

So we're arriving in Linkebeek.

I put a sweater on Pepette so we'll match, 'cause I'm crazy.

She's too cute.

I find it so beautiful here.

You get bored very quickly though.

We're literally in the middle of nowhere. That's home.

Let's go see Granny.

Pepette! My little darling.

Hey, how's it going?

- I'm filming. -

Hello, you cutie.

Hey.

Have you seen the stuff there?

Yo! She's Laurence Bibot and you are Angèle Van Laeken. Yeah! Oh!

- How are you? - Yes, very well. Is that Spritz?