Search - Place Vendome on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Situations, Profanity, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1998 DVD Release: 06/25/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: French Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 57 mins Studio: Fox Lorber Members Wishing: 1 Genres: Thriller, Post-Noir (Modern Noir), Crime Thriller, Romantic Mystery

Nicole Garcia directed this French suspense thriller set in the posh Paris square of Place Vendôme, where the jewelers district includes the firm run by Vincent Malivert (Bernard Fresson) with his brother, Eric (François Berléand). Although Vincent has a top reputation in the field, his British colleagues suspect he fences stolen diamonds. Vincent's alcoholic wife Marianne (Catherine Deneuve), who goes to a classy clinic to dry out, doesn't like the thought of signing papers to transfer the firm's name to other hands, a move that will save the firm from bankruptcy. Thanks to Vincent, she knows of some hidden diamonds, but others would also like to locate the hidden pouch, including the mysterious employers of Kleiser (Philippe Clevenot). The odyssey sends Marianne into boardrooms, past the workbenches of gem-cutters, and on through the hotels, cafes, and diamond markets of Paris and Antwerp. Shown in competition at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Catherine Deneuve - Marianne
Jean-Pierre Bacri - Jean-Pierre
Emmanuelle Seigner - Nathalie
Jacques Dutronc - Battistelli
Bernard Fresson - Vincent Malivert

A chilly, elegant character study masquerading as a thriller, Place Vendôme gets a better-than-average DVD release from Wellspring Media. The movie is beautifully shot by Laurent Dailland (his work rightly here earned him a French Cesar nomination) and the disc preserves the film's theatrical aspect ratio with a clean widescreen transfer. The Dolby audio transfer is also strong and showcases Richard Robbins' rich orchestral score. Since "chilly and elegant" can also describe the look of actress-turned-director Nicole Garcia, she does an excellent job of presenting her stars Catherine Deneuve and Emmanuelle Seigner. But while Place Vendôme is sumptuously made, this DVD brings home the fact that the picture not only offers more surface than substance but its individual sequences are better than the whole of its parts. Still, the surfaces alone make it worth seeing and the movie also offers a vivid, if dispiriting portrait of how crooked and corrupt the mainstream diamond industry is. ~ Nick Dedina, All Movie Guide