Eugène-François Vidocq was in
fact a real historical person. An astonishing one who had a life that seems
almost incomprehensible in our times. A life worthy of all the films and
TV shows made about him but who I imagine is unknown to most people outside
of France. Reading about him it felt like two or three life times. He also
lived in interesting tumultuous times. The French Revolution, the Napoleonic
Wars, the Bourbon Restoration, the July Monarchy that overthrew the Bourbons
and then the Second Republic that overthrew the July Monarchy.
In all these various regimes Vidocq played a role as soldier, thief, policeman
and detective. Born to a wealthy family he was in trouble with the law from
the beginning - in and out of prison - arrests and escapes - into the military
and often kicked out for being involved in sword duels or hitting senior
officers. Sentenced to death a few times and always getting away. Mistresses
by the boatload. Setting up false identities to live for years as a business
man. A mythical figure in Paris. He became an informer for the police
- using disguises to infiltrate criminal gangs. Finally, he formed a group
to do this - all ex-criminals - they eventually became the Sûreté
National. He formed the first detective agency - "Vidocq is considered to
be the father of modern criminology and of the French police department."
Poe is said to have based his French detective Dupin after him.
The year is 1830 and Vidocq has set up his detective agency and is asked
by high officials to look into the odd peculiarity of two men in high positions
suddenly being hit by lightning and turning into burning marshmallows. This
is told in flashback mode though - in the first scene Vidocq is chasing a
man with a mirror mask in a cape with Ninja like skills. They fight around
a burning pit of flame and Vidocq is knocked into it and dies. This strikes
me as odd since Vidocq is being played by the star of the film, the Putin
loving scumbag Gérard Depardieu. By this time in his career Depardieu
was no longer the romantic lead type - closer to an ungainly lump of clay.
I also read that Vidocq died in 1857 which I would guess most French people
know. So something was afoot or askew.
A journalist wants to find out who killed Vidocq and so begins following
in his footsteps - to a Thai dancer who is not Thai (Inés Sastre),
through alley ways of pawing prostitutes, to orgies, to virgin sacrifices,
customized brothels and opium dens. All the go-to places in Paris. He doesn't
realize that he is leaving behind a trail of dead bodies who see themselves
being killed in the mirror mask. All of this playing out as the people of
Paris are rising up to throw out the last Bourbon King, Charles X. This probably
sounds better than it is. The film is saturated in gaudy colors and continuous
grotesque close-ups of people to a degree that it is very distracting.
The director Pitoff (Catwoman) can't leave a good story alone and constantly
intervenes with camera angles and color schemes that make it feel like a
bad graphic novel. It was apparently the "first major fantasy film to be
released that was shot entirely with digital cinematography, using a Sony
HDW-F900 CineAlta camera". That means absolutely nothing to me but might
explain the strange look of the film. There is a good movie here but
it is buried beneath the consuming style to such an extent that it gets lost.
As a note, Edith Scob has a small part - famous for her role in Eyes Without
a Face. George Sanders played Vidocq in the 1946 film A Scandal in Paris.
That might be more in my style.
