Place Vendôme

"Place Vendome" tells of the rise of a widow from an abyss of alcoholism to rescue her late husband's prestigious and bankrupt jewelry store on the renown Parisian mall Place Vendome. Her daunting task is to make her way though the shadowy word of diamond trade from whence she came some 18 years before while hawking several rare cut diamonds. With sinister undercurrents and a polished veneer, the film swirls around an emotionally void Deneuve, her encounters and long over due reconciliations. Those used to Hollywoodish hardball drama with exaggerated characters will likely find "Place Vendome" refreshing or underdone or both. Good stuff for Europic buffs in which Deneuve proves again she's more than just another pretty face.

This film would get absolutely no attention otherwise. Story/plot are a convoluted mess; direction and editing are mediocre or worse. Production values are high, but that's pretty typical these days. Lurches from one jarring and opaque scene to another. Especially bizarre is a scene where Deneuve is quite abruptly shown on a train, drunkenly involved in a tough game of cards. Also a very annoying thread runs throughout the film, where various women are showing yelling at men who are bothering them "no leave me alone", then there's a jump to the next scene where they are in bed together.

This movie is neither complicated nor complex, but its reading is rather incomprehensible. I have the feeling that Nicole Garcia tries to artificially fill an emptyness with a kaleidoscopic narrative, fuzzily alternating with the different characters on the one hand, the present and the past on the other hand, but without giving any explaination about who, what, when, why, ... like within a slow, very slow hubbub. Although the high level actings and the permanent elegance, this movie is globally frustrating and boring.

Only for Catherine Deneuve's performance, this movie deserves your attention. She is troubling, beautiful, captivating. A whole life's experience is generously invested in this performance. The story is not bad, some other performances are not as satisfying (e.g. Dutronc), but it is an enjoyable movie overall. And again, a great lesson in acting.

By the time she made this Catherine Deneuve was already a veteran of over seventy films and almost twenty years had passed since she came of age as a 'mature' actress in 'Le Dernier Metro' for director Francois Truffaut. Her entry into films was undeniably aided by her good looks but it is a combination of astute career choices and a tireless work ethic that have sustained her long career. In Nicole Garcia's film she again proves that she is a mistress of her craft as Marianne, alcoholic wife of a diamond merchant. Facing bankcrupty he commits suicide and her subsequent attempts to sell diamonds that he had stolen get her into all sorts of trouble with an assortment of well-tailored, well-groomed low-lifes. This is definitely for those who like their films to be stylish and glamorous. It looks wonderful courtesy of Laurent Dailland's cinematography and Thierry Flamand's art direction. It is decidedly not for those who prefer worthy vehicles with a social message. This is the kind of film that usually attracts the comment: 'Style over substance'. There is little substance here to be sure but Garcia has assembled a good cast, notably splendid actor/writer Jean-Pierre Bacri, best known for his collaborations with his wife Anges Jaoui and the delectable Emmanuelle Seigner whose character beds not only Marianne's husband but her former and current lover also. Small world! Granted, Mlle Garcia's film might not be flawless but it is certainly well-polished.