Vidocq

Vidocq

Vidocq

Moviecut—Vidocq

I read somewhere that whatever movie would come out this year, it would be a good year for the 7th art as it gave us "Amelie Poulain". That might be true, I just wished I did not have to suffer so much ignorance, arrogance, self-indulgence in one sitting with Vidocq and I cannot see how the cinema can give us something worse before the end of the year. Be warned !

This is as far as I can understand, well acted, directed and edited. The story is well written and quirky and the few fight scenes are very well choreographed and enhanced. This was the second French film I have seen but was very different but and was also brilliant. There were funny bits and scary bits, intelligent bits and violently brilliant bits. I saw it when in holiday in France and because my French isn't up to much I barely understood what they were saying. In fact, I tried to guess what it was about and was fairly accurate, quite possibly due to the excellent visuals. Then I decided to buy it so I could watch it again and understand the story and was glad at the purchase. There was also the theme tune which I sometimes put on in the background. Bring on more like this but please God, no sequel.

This movie is highly acclaimed by other users of IMDB. I found the story very confusing and -even worse- most story lines are not worked out properly, which is a basic requirement for a good movie. I have made similar comments about other movies here at IMDB. A good story, properly worked out, is essential to me. In this case the movie still gets a 4 (out of 10) because of some good photography and the high quality of the (digital) images. Another strong point of criticism is that not only the story, but also the characters are not worked out as they should. Psychology and motives for the crimes remain as obscure as the atmosphere in which the story is set. I read that Vidocq really existed. Well, I would be highly interested to learn something about him. This movie failed to do so. There are some good effects, but there is nothing special about these any more. We can see them in almost every movie nowadays. For me the reasons for the commercial flop are obvious.

Pitof is not a director. J-C Grangé does not know how to write a story with a tense development from the beginning through the end. Vidocq will not break even for it is visually annoying and narratively dull and ridiculous. Visually Pitof can't manage to tell a story as he displays artificial still/long shots or ugly/pointless very close shots. Narratively the story by J-C 'botch end' Grangé (I still remember what you did for Crimson Rivers) is: 1- linear and the supporting roles are only moving scenery 2- ending in a ridiculous mess (Spoiler: how fashionable thou art J-C with your DIY final twist and turn that made me think Fight Club, 6th Sense, Angel Heart and even Agatha Christie's Murder of Roger Ackroyd are perhaps true masterpieces) However Vidocq is the first 100% DV feature. That's yet too good for it to be remembered by some book about the History of Technics in the Movie Industry. Well today is a sunny day in Paris. Fancy a cool Alchemist outside some café?

I really wasn't ready to enjoy "Vidocq" having heard a friend of mine telling me he felt like throwing up in the middle of the movie, due to the peculiar camera angles and motion. But having some time to lose while waking up in front of TV, why not take a look? And I was really taken in that old-Paris atmosphere, which I found strangely bewitching... I did not find the special FX better than in other big budget movies, but "different", finally something original, kind of an nightmarish, apocalyptic surrounding... The storyline had some nice parts to it, but we could have had more. Depardieu was pretty good, Dussollier as well, as opposed to a dreadful Guillaume Canet... Overall, an interesting movie, with pluses and minuses, I was glad to see it but I won't buy the DVD.... 6/10

Yet another "Galliwood" movie, with all the typical French pluses and minuses. On the plus side, it is more original than most Hollywood movies: I particularly like the spectacular, original and surrealistic photography (powerfully blended with digital computer animation). On the negative side, the story is perhaps a bit dull and incoherent; though it is still more inventive than most stories from the same genre. In overall, this is an enjoyable piece. It would deserve much more attention (and financial success) than it actually receives, but "Galliwood" suffers from the lack of effective marketing infrastructure.