Dir.
Jean-Paul Salome, France, 2004, 131 mins
Cast:
Romain Duris, Kristin Scott Thomas, Pascal Greggory, Eva Green
Updated from the stories of French author Maurice Leblanc, The Adventures of Arsene Lupin is an action-adventure blockbuster that plays as a Gallic hybrid of James Bond, Indiana Jones and Leblanc's original influence Sherlock Holmes.
With its evocative period setting the film at its best recaptures some of the bristling cut and thrust of the Hollywood romps of the 1920s and 30s. However the narrative is marred by incoherency.
Arsene Lupin (Romain Duris) is a high-class thief who discovers a royalist plot against the French Republic. Assisted by the seductive Josephine (Kristin Scott-Thomas), rumoured to be a centuries-old witch, Arsene races to foil the conspirators by capturing the royal jewels and thwarting his royalist adversary Beaumagnon (Pascal Greggory).
Numerous sub-plots abound including a romance between Arsene and his childhood sweetheart Clarisse (Eva Green) and Arsene's creeping suspicion that both Beaumagnon and Josephine may be responsible for the murder of his father.
Unfortunately these sub-plots are rather too numerous and the film's hyper-kinetic style does little to make them comprehensible.
Poor exposition, rapid editing and a barrage of set pieces threaten a narrative breakdown that is eventually realized in the final third of the film through a debilitating series of false endings. The result is a profound sense of anti-climax.
At over two hours long the film is over-extended and the motivations of the characters become so opaque towards the end that they resemble puppets pulled by strings rather than compelling personalities.
Nevertheless there are moments to enjoy and there is enough that is good to suggest that the film might have been better. The production design impressively recreates turn-of-the-century Paris and there are a number of exciting action scenes.
Kristin Scott Thomas in particular delivers a sensuous performance as the sinister Josephine. In fact she lifts proceedings to such an extent that she might have been better in the lead role. Although Romain Duris is handsome and physically adept as Lupin, he lacks the interiority that would make his charisma less superficial.
Duris seems most interesting when he disguises himself as an aging aristocrat, perhaps suggesting what a more mature actor might have been able to accomplish with the role. In the original novels Lupin was an older man.
It seems that The Adventures of Arsene Lupin has been designed as a European rival to the American blockbuster. In addition this 'coming of age' storyline may be the prelude to further adventures. Nevertheless in the rush to ape tropes that are more commonly American one senses that something distinctive has been lost. Certainly it is true to say that the director of the film loses the story along the way.
Peter Fraser
|
