Deneuve is a rare gem in grim `Place Vendome'
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Movie review
XXX "Place Vendome," with Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jacques Dutronc. Directed by Nicole Garcia, from a script by Garcia and Jacque Fieschi. 117 minutes. Harvard Exit. No rating; for mature audiences because of adult themes and sexual situations. In French and English with some English subtitles.
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A fellow movie critic who said he was too busy to see "Place Vendome," a 1998 French film opening today at the Harvard Exit, nevertheless showed up at the critics' screening. "I didn't think I had time for this," he explained, half-sheepishly, as he settled into his seat. Then a smile. "But I had time for Catherine Deneuve."
Many a movie-lover has said the same over the years.
"Place Vendome" is a thriller set in the famous French jewelry square in Paris - yet it's hardly a glamorous world, and ultimately not that thrilling.
The inner sanctums are airless, suffocating places, where muffled conversations drone on about taxes. The men, while well-dressed and accompanied by young, slinky women, are old and world-weary. Even Battistelli (Jacques Dutronc), a famous jewel thief, looks like death warmed over.
Something is amiss, too, with Vincent Malivert (Bernard Fresson), director of one of Place Vendome's most prestigious establishments. A powerfully built man, he seems burdened and defeated.
One burden, we find out, is his wife, Marianne (Catherine Deneuve), who alternates between sinking into an alcoholic stupor and drying out in clinics. She is helpless and haggard; at a dinner party, she abruptly leaves the table. When Vincent finds her alone drinking the remains of other guests' wine glasses, he uncorks a fresh bottle. "Not the leftovers," he informs her, filling the glass.
At first it seems a kind gesture; then, in a stab of anger, he overfills the glass and bullies her. Later, at home, he gently rubs her ankles and strokes her hair. "What did I give you?" he wonders aloud while she sleeps. "Money," he answers truthfully.
Theirs is a complex relationship which, unfortunately, ends abruptly. For Vincent's other burden is his bankrupt business. In an apparent attempt at salvation, he has bought stolen diamonds, an act that has ruined his reputation. As he contemplates suicide, he wonders who will take care of Marianne after he's gone.
The answer turns out to be Marianne herself. Yet "Place Vendome" is hardly an empowerment movie along Hollywood lines. Marianne begins to stand on her own two shaky legs, yes, but the legs remain shaky throughout.
She refuses to sell her husband's establishment despite the entreaties and reprimands of her in-laws, but this may be a bad business decision. She tries to sell the stolen diamonds but seems unprepared in that nefarious world. She drinks less but still runs to the bottle. "I'm a sober widow," she tells a friend. "Maybe the shock did me good." Deneuve knows enough to imbue the line with doubt rather than confidence.
Marianne also becomes intrigued by a mirror image of her younger self, Nathalie (Emmanuelle Seigner), who works at Malivert's, and who is pursued by Jean-Pierre (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a repo man and perpetual outsider. We often find him standing outside Place Vendome, waiting for Nathalie, and he remains outside the hearts of the women he pursues.
In one post-coital moment, he sits staring at the naked backside of Nathalie, who, without turning, tells him to stop. He annunciates our thoughts: "Odalisque," he says. She covers up. It's a nice scene.
"Place Vendome" is an atmospheric film that unfolds slowly - perhaps too slowly. It takes a while to sort through the peripheral characters, who remain lifeless and unremarkable. Even as Marianne's past and present converge, and build toward a climax, director Nicole Garcia always seems to undercut the tension.
Yet the film starts with the assumption that human beings are complex creatures - unfathomable even (or especially) to ourselves - which is a huge relief after a summer of reductive schlock.
Then there's Deneuve. Her acting has never been better (the role won her the Best Actress award at the 1998 Venice Film Festival), and, at 57, she is still sexy in that by-the-way fashion of hers. My fellow movie critic was right: We should all have time for Catherine Deneuve.