It's not that often that you see top-notch arthouse directors relying on high-flying special effects. But, with Ricky (out now in the US), Francois Ozon has torn a page out Emir Kusturica's playbook–namely, the flying scenes in his magic-realist fable Time of the Gypsies–and literally given wings to a story. (PHOTO: RICKY, COURTESY OF IFC FILMS)

When Luc Besson did that a few years ago in his abysmal Angel A, it looked like an extended fashion ad. Ozon's effort is more successful, in part because his film begins as the sort of neo-realistic working-class drama the Dardenne brothers might make.

"I'm only interested in fantasy when it's presented in a believable way that allows for audience identification," Ozon says in the press notes, adding that he was inspired by The Incredible Shrinking Man and the films of David Croneberg.

The story takes flight, so to speak, when a single-mom factory worker (Alexandra Lamy) gives birth to a boy who develops a pair of curious appendages on his back. Ozon seems to have done his best to keep his cherubic little creature with wings from being interpreted in religious terms: the wings grow not overnight, as they do in the story it's based on–"Moth," by English author Rose Tremain–but gradually and in precise detail, beginning as two bloody stumps. Ozon and his team studied the developmental phases of baby birds, and rather than make Ricky's wings white, he worked with special-effects supervisors to match them to his infant actor's hair color.

The housing project in which most of the action takes place feels like a lived-in environment, and Ozon relied on the static shots he's used to masterful effect in reality-questioning films like Swimming Pool and Under the Sand. As Ozon points out, "This made the special effects that much harder to conceive, as they are usually integrated into quick shots and rapid-fire editing." Not so here, where a baby takes to the skies in full view of everyone.

Ricky opened December 16th at IFC Center, located at 323 Sixth Avenue in New York.