Crimes of Fashion: Killer Clutch

How do you say I can't understand a word you're saying in French?

That pretty much sums up this movie for me. To be perfectly fair, it may have been a good movie, but I got so lost in the heavy accents that following the plot became laborious. I usually do very well with understanding various accents, but there was something amiss with this particular movie.

This is a movie made for a mostly-American audience, and I've seen numerous others with the same opinion.

Gilles Marini has been perfectly understandable in several other shows, but even his accent made this difficult.

I also found the acting/chemistry to be lacking. Visually, it was lovely to see the clothes and Paris; but there is more to a movie than cinematography.

I was looking forward to this, but C'est la vie...

Brooke D'Orsay stars as a fashion psychologist- whatever that is - in Crimes of Fashion: Killer Clutch.

Lauren Elliott goes to Paris for Fashion Week and in the midst of it, her friend is accused of murder.

Lauren teams up with a detective (Giles Marini) to prove her friend innocent.

I will address my pet peeve first. On another site, someone complained that the cops spoke English. No, the cops were speaking French. French people do not walk around Paris speaking English with French accents, nor do they speak English to one another. One assumes they are speaking French, just as we assume Romeo and Juliet are speaking Italian.

I loved the fashions, hated the rats.

Brooke D'Orsay is a pleasant actress. For the most part this is an okay entry ino Hallmark Mystery genre.

Gilles Marini who played the French police detective Andre Dubreuil was wonderful as the leading man and the Hallmark regular Brooke D'Orsay who played the fashion psychologist Lauren Elliott was beautiful and a consummate professional as usual.

The mystery itself was decent, I liked that Lauren has a police detective father...and I thought she followed the clues well and asked the right questions. I didn't mind the Paris fashion week backdrop...but I really found the "fashion psychologist" profession odd and hard to believe. Don't get me wrong, I think many members of the fashion industry prevail themselves of members of the psychological profession...but?

Also poking fun of the monolingual American seems like a bit of a cheap shot in this day and age, and I didn't find it funny. Overall, if you can get over the poor sense of humor and the questionable profession, the mystery was good and I do think the two leads have chemistry. I would watch another, but it's not on my recommendation list just yet.

Let's see: an American fashion psychologist with no detecting background, who does not speak a word of French, goes to Paris for the first time in her life and manages to solve a crime. Meanwhile the hirsute detective, supposedly in charge, ineptly bumbles around and allows her to meddle in in official police matters. Seems like the perfect plot for a novel Pink Panther movie. Unfortunately, this was intended as a serious film, not a farce.

First of all, what the heck is a fashion psychologist? Then, how can a total stranger, unable to speak the language, easily navigate through Paris, even its unseemly places, and effectively question all possible murder suspects?

And, why would all of them so easily oblige, when she has neither the authority, nor the language ability to do so? In addition, why would the policeman in charge allow such person, unknown to him, to do it and even share information with her? Or, why should the French police always be two steps behind such an unlikely sleuth?

Again, Inspector Clouseau comes to mind, which is not a compliment for French Police and the character viewers are supposed to admire as the charming hero of the production.

Gilles Marini in his role is made to look like an uncouth idiot and Lauren acts as a presumptuous brat. Personally, I saw no reason to enjoy their interaction, though I guess they were made for each other. Hallmark shows no mercy for the faithful viewers. The end of the production clearly indicates that sequels are planned.

This is obviously a vehicle for Brooke but it was too much her acting was OTT but to be fair the writing didn't help - a fashion psychologist turns detective and of course is better at the investigation than the actual detective - so predictable. And her job title what was that about!

The casting of Gilles Marini and Paloma Coquant is super! Both are enjoyable to watch and can actually act that's always a surprise in a Hallmark production. Also Paloma est très belle.

Can't work out if this was filmed in Paris at all But I enjoyed the illusion of it being Paris and the use of French throughout was a nice happenstance as I speak French I don't know if non speakers would feel the same.

That said it didn't make sense that Lauren traipsed around Paris solving a crime without bothering to try to speak French. Talk about unrealistic

I'll just add Mohamed Belhadjine is a revelation I hope he has a long successful career.