Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jacques Dutronc, Bernard Fresson, François Berléand
Director: Nicole Garcia
Producer: Alain Sarde
Screenplay: Jacques Fieschi, Nicole Garcia
Cinematography: Laurent Dailland
Music: Richard Robbins
U.S. Distributor: Empire Pictures
In French with subtitles
Place Vendôme, from actress-turned-director Nicole Garcia, is a character study masquerading as a thriller. Slow-moving and simmering with low-key tension, the film takes us behind the scenes of the diamond industry as it follows one woman's struggle to re-define herself. Place Vendôme has its share of mysteries, but none of them are revealed or resolved with the kind of narrative twists common to movies of this sort. Instead, everything unfolds unhurriedly, allowing the needs of the characters, not those of the plot, to determine what happens next.
Catherine Deneuve, who was 55 years old when Place Vendôme was filmed, still possesses the same powerful screen presence she had 36 years ago when she sung her way into our hearts in Jacques Demy's classic The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Place Vendôme, for which she won a Best Actress award at the 1998 Venice Film Festival, gives her the opportunity to remind us of her range. Her character, Marianne Malivert, has the most clearly defined arc of any of the individuals in the movie, and Deneuve doesn't miss a beat in bringing Marianne's complex and subtly shifting personality to the screen.
Vincent Malivert (Bernard Fresson), Marianne's husband and a jeweler with a internationally-known shop on Paris' Place Vendome, has accepted stolen goods and, as a result, tarnished his reputation. Unable to face the impending scandal, he kills himself, leaving his wife with five perfect stones and a business that is low on inventory and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Marianne, an alcoholic who spends most of her time shuttered away in a clinic, gradually begins to piece her life together after her husband's death, returning to work and looking for a buyer for the stolen diamonds that are now in her possession. Shady characters gather around her like vultures around carrion, including Nathalie (Emmanuelle Seigner), a young employee of her husband's who was also his mistress (her looks and attitude resemble those of Marianne 20 years ago); Jean-Pierre (Jean-Pierre Bacri), Nathalie's financially strapped ex-boyfriend who has made a deal with persons unknown; and Battistelli (Jacques Dutronc), a scam artist with a dubious past who is currently sharing Nathalie's bed. Everyone wants Marianne's diamonds for their own purposes, and, as it becomes widely known that she has them, the proverbial noose begins to tighten.
The characters in Place Vendôme are a world-weary lot, beaten down by suffering the consequences of a lifetime of double-crosses and betrayals. Nathalie is the exception - all of that is ahead of her. The film never tires of contrasting her with Marianne. What Nathalie is now - ambitious, energetic, and driven - Marianne once was, until she stepped falsely and ended up imprisoned in a loveless marriage that stunted her career and destroyed her self-esteem. Like Marianne, Jean-Pierre and Battistelli are wrestling with their private demons, and each is trapped in their current circumstances because of past misdeeds.
Garcia follows Marianne from a detached, aloof perspective, observing candidly as she begins to re-connect with the world around her and attempts to re-establish herself in the diamond market. At first, we don't recognize her goal. There are hints of a lost love and a past disloyalty, but it isn't until the film moves into its final third that we understand the forces underlying Marianne's resurrection. For a film that is predominantly grim in the way it dwells upon lost opportunities and past betrayals, Place Vendôme ends on a surprisingly upbeat note that offers not only a sense of closure but the possibility of redemption for all who have survived the ordeal.
Those in search of an in-depth expose of the corruption riddling the international diamond market will not find it here. Although Garcia gives us enough details to establish a sense of verisimilitude, Place Vendôme is far more interested in the characters than their circumstances. Because of the nature of the story, there is an aura of slow-burning suspense. We are never sure of anyone's motivations, and there are shadowy figures in the background attempting to manipulate the situation. Many of the "whys" and "hows" do not become clear until the last act.
Deneuve's perfectly calibrated performance is Place Vendôme's centerpiece, but she is ably supported by her castmates. Emmanuelle Seigner, best known as Roman Polanski's wife (and whose most recent screen appearance was in her husband's The Ninth Gate), is credible as Nathalie. Jean-Pierre Bacri (Un Air de Famille) brings a blend of toughness and vulnerability to Jean-Pierre, and Jacques Dutronc molds Battistelli into more than the traditional trench coated noir figure.
Place Vendôme is a beautifully filmed motion picture, brimming with atmosphere and stylish shots. Because Garcia has elected to distance the camera from the characters, we are able to regard the way in which they evolve without forming an emotional bond with them. This is not a film where we find ourselves empathizing with the heroine; instead, we are dispassionate voyeurs, observing her actions and unraveling clues about who she was, is, and will be. As in all thrillers, there are puzzles to solve and dangers to overcome, but the difference here is that it's the interaction of the characters, rather than the contortions of the plot, that hold our attention.
© 2000 James Berardinelli