|
|
Review
Place Vendôme has the same alluring cold beauty of a faultless diamond, as
mesmerising as it is bewildering. It belongs to a new breed of French film noir,
evoking the essence of classic film noir with its multi-layered plot and complex, morally
ambiguous characters, but adding an extra dimension of sophistication and simmering, understated
menace.
Whilst Place Vendôme is big on style it is less satisfying from the point of view of plot or characterisation. To some extent, the plot is almost irrelevant to the film, which is far more concerned with showing us how individuals cope with their predicaments. The problem is that whilst the film manages to hold our attention it does not really allow us to understand the protagonists and ultimately only one character, Marianne, appears fully developed and believable – although this is partly down to an exceptional performance from Catherine Deneuve. Although in some ways a superficial and often perplexing film, Place Vendôme is beautifully filmed, employing some often breathtaking cinematography. The film works because it creates its own ground rules as it goes along and the dreamlike experience it creates for the spectator is both fresh and unsettling. The impression is one of a film taking placing in the mind of its principal protagonist (Marianne) rather than in the real world. Perhaps if its director Nicole Garcia had been a little more adventurous and gone further down this path, this might have been a work of unequivocal artistic merit. As it is, Place Vendôme is still a compelling and noteworthy film, which has received wide-spread critical acclaim and was nominated in virtually every category at the Césars Awards Ceremony in 1999. © James Travers 2002 Place Vendôme, de Nicole Garcia, prouve au moins une chose: le romanesque pur, celui des années 1940 et 50, ne fonctionne plus vraiment cinquante ans plus tard. Aujourd’hui, on ne peut plus montrer au public des gens riches et lointains comme une sorte de rêve flou et inatteignable. D’ailleurs, dans le film de Nicole Garcia, les milliardaires ont du vague à l’âme, un coup de "blues", comme on dit: nous sommes ici dans le milieu des diamantaires, des joailliers et des courtiers en pierres précieuses, qui se baladent entre Paris, Anvers, New York et Londres; mais, en l’an 2000 (ou presque!), les règles du jeu ont changé, les mafias - russe et autre – sont venues se greffer sur ces transactions presque abstraites tant les chiffres sont élevés... En fait, le défaut du film est de se situer entre deux eaux: la peinture d’un milieu opaque, et celle de personnages romanesques, qui n’ont de véritable existence que dans l’imagination des scénaristes (Jacques Fieschi et Nicole Garcia). Les auteurs du film s’intéressent plus à ces personnages qu’à l’histoire elle-même – et notamment au personnage principal de Catherine Deneuve, ancienne experte alcoolique qui vient de perdre son mari. Deneuve est d’ailleurs superbe dans le rôle. Hormis les acteurs (Jacques Dutronc, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Bernard Fresson, Emmanuelle Seigner), l’autre grande qualité du film est le magnifique travail du chef-opérateur Laurent Dailland, qui parvient à baigner le film dans une lumière noire presque malsaine – à l’image du milieu décrit. Place Vendôme, présenté au Festival de Venise 1998, et 12 fois nommé aux Césars, au début de l’année suivante, est un film à la beauté abstraite. Comme venu d’un autre temps. 
© Georges Cohen 2008 Write a review for this film... User Comments
How do you rate this film?
|
Director:
Nicole Garcia
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jacques Dutronc, Bernard Fresson Synopsis
Vincent Malivert is the head of a prestigious jewel broker’s firm on the exclusive Place
Vendôme. Hampered by dept and implicated in trafficking of stolen jewels,
he commits suicide, leaving his wife Marianne to pick up the pieces. Marianne, who
has spent the last few years in a clinic recovering from alcoholism, discovers a set of
perfect cut diamonds in her husband’s safe. She decides to use this opportunity
to rebuild her life and sets about trying to find a buyer for the forgotten jewels.
Unwittingly, she is drawn to a shady dealer named Battistelli, the very man who drove
her into a disastrous and loveless marriage...
Credits
 More French Drama |
   |
