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Arsène Lupin
2004 Adventure / Crime / Thriller
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Summary
Arsène Lupin’s harmonious childhood ends abruptly with the
brutal death of his father, a notorious crook. Twenty years
later, Lupin has established himself as a gentleman thief; he relieves
the rich of the burden of some of their wealth, without ever resorting
to violence. He also has an eye for the ladies and one day he
falls under the spell of the mysterious Countess
Joséphine. She lures him into recovering three crucifixes
which will reveal the whereabouts of a lost royal treasure. This
is to be Arsène Lupin’s greatest adventure, played for the highest
stakes...
Review
Having failed spectacularly in an over-zealous attempt to bring a fresh
re-interpretation of one icon of French popular culture in Belphégor - Le fantôme du
Louvre (2001), director Jean-Paul Salomé does exactly
the same with another, the celebrated fictional thief Arsène
Lupin. With its ludicrous plot (a totally chaotic melange of
action adventure and supernatural fantasy), absurd characterisation and
over-reliance on special effects, this charmless film bears absolutely
no resemblance to the wonderful Maurice Leblanc novels. Any
plus points the film has (set and costume design) are totally negated
by Salomé’s stylistic excesses which make an already
convoluted narrative virtually unfathomable and sqaunder the talents of
some fine actors. Whilst Kristin Scott Thomas scores a partial
success as the film’s main villain, Romain Duris appears absurd almost
from start to finish, mainly because he is compelled to portray Lupin
as a two-dimensional action hero, somewhere between Indiana Jones and
Superman. It’s a tedious spectacle of CGI effects and gratuitous
Grand Guignol gore, whose appeal is limited to juveniles with an
unhealthy addiction to the kind of showy Hollywood blockbuster
adventure movie which this film tries so hard - in fact, too hard - to
emulate.
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