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VIDOCQ
This French horror fest from 2001 will likely be remembered more for its technical innovations than anything else. It makes greater use of the digital medium than just about any other film of its time (although, needless to say, it’s since been surpassed in that area), boasts impressive filmmaking and has a reasonably compelling story. Ultimately, however, it falls far short of classic, or even semi-classic, status.
The Package
With VIDOCQ (released on DVD as
DARK PORTALS: THE CHRONICLES OF VIDOCQ), first time director Pitof made ground
breaking use of the digital format; it was the first film to be shot with the
Sony digital 1080p 24 fps camera (which is now George Lucas’ camera of choice).
It’s also something of a companion piece to the previous year’s BROTHERHOOD OF
THE WOLF (LE PACTE DES LOUPS) in its horror-action milieu, its bold, energetic
approach to period filmmaking and the number of major French stars, led by the
iconic Gerard Depardieu, that grace its cast. Interestingly enough, BROTHERHOOD
OF THE WOLF was widely considered the apotheosis of digital filmmaking upon its
initial release. VIDOCQ took that film’s technical innovations several degrees
farther, making it the premiere digital ground-breaker…although now, in
the wake of STARS WARS: EPISODE II and the all-digital SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD
OF TOMORROW, it no longer holds that title. Pitof’s sophomore effort,
unfortunately, was the Hollyweird bomb CATWOMAN, about which the less is said
the better!
The Story
Paris, circa 1830: the reality based Vidocq is an ex-con turned legendary
detective who finds himself hanging by his fingertips over a well of flame. A
hooded figure with a mirror mask over his/her face stands over him; the figure
removes its mask and Vidocq loses his grip.
As the public mourns Vidocq’s death, a determined young reporter named
Etienne Boisset is looking to write a biography of the late detective. As
Boisset investigates his subject’s final days, in which Vidocq was caught up in
a bizarre case involving the aforementioned hooded figure, known as the
Alchemist, he confronts a number of suspicious figures, all of whom meet
gruesome deaths in Boisset’s wake.
Flashbacks, meanwhile, fill us in on Vidocq’s search for the Alchemist,
triggered by the suspicious deaths of an arms dealer and a chemist, both struck
by lightning. Vidocq suspects the lightning was man made and his suspicions
deepen when he learns both victims had metal combs stuck inside their hats that
seemed placed to attract electricity. The combs, he learns, were attached by
Vidocq’s own mistress, a prostitute who claims to have been guided by a
mysterious letter. Vidocq’s investigations into the lives of the Alchemist’s
two victims, whose ranks quickly come to include a third, reveal that they sold
virginal girls from poor families to the Alchemist, who promised the deluded men
the secret of eternal life in exchange. After a brutalized young woman leads
him to the Alchemist’s creepily opulent laboratory, Vidocq comes to believe that
the Alchemist uses the blood of virgin girls to create his mirrored mask, which
in absorbing the reflection of a person’s face also steals his/her soul.
Boisset, for his part, follows his subject’s trail to the dungeon where
Vidocq met his end at the hands of the Alchemist. A fateful confrontation
awaits…
The Direction
To be sure, this is an incredible looking film, which shouldn’t surprise
anyone, as the art director was the brilliant Marc Caro, of DELICATESSON and
CITY OF LOST CHILDREN fame. Bold, imaginative and extremely skillfully
visualized, there isn’t a single shot here that doesn’t impress in some way…and
therein lies the problem. Put succinctly, this film is overdirected to the
point of absurdity, being that rarity of rarities: too much of a good thing.
As a director Pitof is energetic to a fault, favoring multiple set-ups and
rapid-fire cutting between wide shots and extreme close-ups. The camerawork,
much of it accomplished via computerized technology, is fluid and sweeping, and
the landscapes, often colored in with digital enhancements or simply conjured up
altogether via digital means, are crisp and vivid…and plainly unreal. If
nothing else, VIDOCQ is likely the closest any filmmaker will ever come to
creating a live-action cartoon.
Vital Statistics
VIDOCQ
RF2K Studiocanal TF1 Films/Canal+
Director: Pitof
Producer: Dominique Farrugia
Screenplay: Jean-Christopher Grange, Pitof
Cinematography: Jean-Pierre Sauvaire
Editor: Thierry Hoss
Cast: Gerard Depardieu, Guillame Canet, Ines Sastre, Andre Dussolier, Moussa
Maaskri, Isabelle Renaud, Jean-Pierre Gos, Jean-Pol Dubois, Andre Penvern,
Gilles Arbona, Jean Marc Thibault, Akonio Dolo, Edith Scob, Francois Chattot,
Elsa Kikoine