Vidocq

Vidocq is a heavily stylised, effects-chasing crime thriller set in Paris in 1830, where the master detective Vidocq hunts the perpetrator of a series of mysterious murders while yet another revolution is brewing. At the beginning of the film Vidocq himself becomes one of the murderer's victims, whereupon the young journalist Etienne Boisset continues the investigation in order to catch Vidocq's killer and then write the definitive biography of the famous and notorious detective. Police Inspector Lautrennes is on the same errand, as is Vidocq's partner Nimier, but they are up against a frighteningly powerful adversary.

The murderer, a cloaked and masked figure, is anything but easy to catch, and one by one he kills potential witnesses. The suspense is sustained from start to finish, even though the story is so contrived that you quickly give up hope of a reasonably satisfying ending.

Vidocq is reminiscent of another French thriller from the same year, "Brotherhood of the Wolf", with its uncritical mixing of historical fact, inexplicable supernatural events, oriental martial arts, action from start to finish and somewhat too obvious computer effects. The visual style, however, is even more mannered in Vidocq. The film simply bombards the senses with an extremely hectic editing rhythm, and it makes massive overuse of flashy montages with lots of close-ups. It is handsome to look at, but rather exhausting in the long run.