L'empereur de Paris

It was a really nice movie with great acting. Vincent Cassel was astonishing, as always!!!! However, as it was a real story and Francois Vidocq was a person that existed in real life, it would have been better if we were given further information about him at the end of the movie, that he finally accepted to be the leader of security police of Paris, he founded the 1st detective agency and he is considered to be the father of modern criminology.

A missed opportunity, if you know Vidocq's 'real' story (itself probably half-fiction), his skill at disguises and undercover work for instance. As it is, we end up with a period action drama which gleefully ignores how long it took to load period pistols to allow a number of Western style shoot-outs and various hand to hand combat, as well as at least two beautiful women to add romance. The result is somewhere between "The Count of Monte Christo" and "Cartouche", with hints of early nineteenth century political intrigue scattered all through it. There are felicities - the opening promises an earthy brutality which quickly disappears, and the views of period Paris seem well-researched. It's also a surprise to discover Olga Kurylenko, whom many Bond fans will know, but whom I last saw playing a beautiful Cuban dancer in "Magic City" as a sulphorous baronne (speaking perfect French). I hadn't seen Lucchini for decades, so was taken aback by his age. A fun film in many ways, but not really a film I would have watched had I known it was going to so blithely ignore the source material.

L'Empereur de Paris is a nice movie that takes us back to the times of France under the rule of Napoleon. The great performing Vincent Cassel plays Francois Vidocq, an ex-con who hunts down the most notorious criminals of the Parisian underworld to get a pardon in return for his services. Fantastic settings and costumes and a very good cast take us back in time and give us a relatively close authentic portrait of the era of Napoleon. Directed by Jean-François Richet (known for a broader audience for Blood Father with Mel Gibson, and the remake of Assault on Precinct 13 from 2005) The Emperor of Paris is a fine movie if you like to watch movies/stories like Les Misérables, The Count of Monte Cristo, Oliver Twist, The Duelists, Gangs of New York, and of course the Vidocq movie with Gérard Depardieu (2001).

It was quite hard to watch it till the end. All decorations, costumes, details are magnificent. But that's all. Characters are dull, acting is lifeless. Better watch Vidocq (2001) one more time.

Most people won't get bored watching L'Empereur de Paris. The performances are good, the Parisian settings are fantastic ... the film looks a million dollars. The action sequences are exciting.The prologue was really intriguing, especially considering the movie's claims about it being a "true story". I was keen to find out more about Francois Vidocq (Vincent Cassel), of whom I'd never previously heard anything about whatsoever. This former criminal apparently became the founder and first director of the crime-detection Sûreté Nationale as well as the head of the first known private detective agency. Vidocq is considered to be the father of modern criminology and of the French police department. He is also regarded as the first private detective. Sounds like the basis for a hell of a story. Unfortunately The Emperor ... doesn't really come close to telling it.

Instead, after the above-mentioned introduction it decides to tell a tale of Vidocq, officially a wanted man, but unofficially obstinately attempting to seek an amnesty from authorities. To this end, he becomes like a free-lance vigilante contractor for police, using his past experience with underworld figures, to bring villains to justice, or execute them in the process. Regrettably we see virtually none of the skills that were going to set him apart as a criminalist. We do see some finely-choreographed action set-pieces and we do see Vidocq being aided and abetted on occasions, by both police and some of his former associates.But the story-line continually obfuscates, when it should be clarifying events. Allies become enemies and enemies become allies with little exposition. Vidocq gains an ill-fated companion in Annette and has a confusingly, enigmatic relationship, that I still can't figure out, with a baroness played by Olga Kurylenko. The conclusion infers that he is going to lead the Surete.

Indeed this film almost seems like a Gallic attempt at a franchise - starter, which I doubt will occur. I think director Jean-François Richet would have been better advised to concentrate on telling a broader, more factual story about Vidocq, whose historical exploits give much credence to the oft-repeated statement, regarding truth, being stranger than fiction.