Dark deeds in the City of Lights

>> Vidocq is the latest in French historical fantasy

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Following Luc Besson's The Messenger and last year's Pacte des Loups, the latest French exercise in historical fantasy is Vidocq, indicating an exciting and full-blown trend. As with Pacte, we're served a whirlwind mash-up of archaic whodunnit and aristocratic conspiracy, weird science and supernatural creepy-crawl, naïve colonial exoticism and gaslit gore, blazing flintlocks and incongruous martial arts.

The expansive Gérard Depardieu does a swell job of "filling out" the role of Eugène François Vidocq, a real-life figure who went from crook on the lam to mythologized crimebuster. A real swashbuckler, that one, with enough girth and thuggishness to put some muscle behind his heart of gold, as well as a sharp mind given to furthering the nascent art of forensic detection.

The year is 1830 and Paris is seething with social turmoil. As the movie opens, we see our heavyweight hero cast to his doom by a mysterious, mirror-faced nemesis. Intrepid young reporter Etienne Boisset (Guillaume Canet), Vidocq's biographer, takes up the trail. Through flashbacks, Vidocq's assorted associates put forth a tangled plot which begins with a triple murder--by lightning. From there, the evil spirals outward while the antique eye-candy spills forth at a dizzying pace.

The parade of secondary characters is rich, with such standouts as Nimier (Moussa Maaskri), Vidocq's churlish Gypsy sidekick in detective work, and Vidocq's stunning mistress Préah (Inès Sastre). The winner, though, is the faceless Alchemist, the requisite black-cloaked villain and enigmatic counterpoint to Vidocq's blunt conduct. The Alchemist sails through impossible physical feats with an androgynous, preternatural grace. And how about that soul-sucking mask!

Based in, but not restrained by, French history of the day, the lore of Vidocq is an excellent canvas on which director Pitof paints his flights of fancy. Aesthetic similarities with the works of Jeunet and Caro aren't surprising, given that Pitof cut his teeth on their Delicatessen and Alien: Resurrection. Gee-whiz FX work is facilitated by the fact that this is the world's first feature shot entirely on hi-def digital video--giving the whole thing on occasion the feel of a Tears for Fears video gone haywire.

Vidocq opens Friday, Nov. 2