Le casse du siècle

"Flawless" from 2007 is filled with the "bling" of not only diamonds, but of Michael Caine and Demi Moore, the stars of this caper movie.

The story starts in the present day with the elderly Laura giving an interview about female executives of the past. She shows the interviewer an absolutely huge diamond and tells her story.

Her story begins in London at London Diamonds, the largest supplier of diamonds in the world, where Laura (Moore) has a good position but is constantly passed over for promotion into the upper echelon.

One day, the janitor, Hobbs (Caine) tells her that she's going to be fired. She doesn't believe him but finds out by snooping around that it's true.

Hobbs wants her to get the codes to the vault, which are changed weekly. He is then going to enter the vault, fill his thermos with small diamonds, which the company probably won't even miss, and leave. He is going to cut her in.

The next day the executives, including Laura, are called down to the vault. I'll leave it at that, but that was a pretty big thermos.

Really excellent film with a charming, subtle performance by Caine as Hobbs and Moore as the unflappable, cool, beautiful Laura, a career girl at a time when that was much more unusual than it is today.

The story will keep you wondering and intrigued up to the very last frame. Highly recommended. I originally watched this because Nathaniel Parker of Inspector Lynley Mysteries has a role. I'm glad I did.

Most heist movies of the last 10 years tend to share the similar done-to-death storyline as they fail to come up with any originality. Such films mostly rely on extravagant special effects and over-the-top action sequences to capture the audience's attention. Of course there are a few exceptions and a majority of these exceptions tend to be gems. Such is Radford's 'Flawless'. Of course merely labelling it as a heist movie wouldn't be doing justice for the depth of the story exceeds beyond the robbery.

The opening sequence of a diamond being extracted from the African mud and then it's transformation till it lands on a woman's finger may look familiar but it doesn't feel stale especially how it gets straight to the point in the following sequence where a pompous young journalist meets an aged Laura Quinn for an interview. The sequence thereafter takes us back to 60's London. Radford cleverly tackles themes of sexism, blood diamond, class etc by incorporating them withing the story and never sounding preachy. He deals with some heavy issues in a cleverly subtle way.

Through scenes in the bank, he also distinguishes the contrast between the status of men and women in 60's London. It doesn't feel to be such a long time ago yet it is surprising that Quinn is the only woman in the bank (and perhaps the world as is hinted) to work as an administrator while each and every one of her colleagues are men. Clearly she's a woman trying to survive in a man's world and continues to struggle as she is continuously passed over for promotion and soon learns that her employment at the bank will be terminated shortly. However, when the janitor comes up with an unexpected proposition, she reluctantly sees a way out.

'Flawless' is both story driven and character driven while being atmospheric. The writing is solid. The witty dialogues are loaded with dry and sarcastic humour and there's a philosophical element to most of them. The characters are wonderfully developed and the story moves at a smooth pace. The 60s atmosphere is well created and I liked how it contrasted with modern day London.

Caine and Moore are in top form. Caine's gentlemanlike Mr. Hobbes is not your typical criminal. He's polite, charming but eventually the viewer sees that things are not as they seemed. Michael Caine easily plays his part with élan. Demi Moore is fantastic too. Many have complained her accent bouncing back and forth between British and American but that makes sense because Quinn is an American who's been living in London for more than fifteen years. Thus it is believable that her accent would be distorted. Her reaction in the scenes with Hobbes and Finch are remarkable. Some of the best sequences in 'Flawless' are the ones between Moore and Caine and Moore and Wilson. Lambert Wilson delivers a very good performance in a strong supporting role.

I didn't know much about the film before seeing it. Unfortunately, such movies do not get the deserved attention during its release but I hope it gradually gets the well deserved recognition. What caught my attention prior to viewing was the odd but seemingly interesting pairing of Caine and Moore and when I finally got to see this refreshing gem, I was more than glad with a more than satisfying film experience. I've already included this little film treasure in my shelf of DVDs.

2 things that i want to comments here. 1st : Brilliant story. 2nd : No sex scenes. (Great to have this movie). Opening of this movie was attracted me very good with 50's background music playing along, so curious. All actors & actress role acting very solid. Me just keep on thinking how a lot of diamond can be disappear a few hours. But only one things that look not so natural was during Laura Quinn old. Her eyes look so fresh!!!..... Anyway it was a really really great story. I suggest you people out there recommend this movie very much. You will know how much your money can by. I would like to give seven out of ten for this brilliant story.

Flawless is a charming, tense, and nicely executed caper movie.

I had absolutely no idea how the robbery was done until the revelation: and, like most of us, I have watched enough heist movies to quickly go "Yup, got it!", more often than not, but not here.

Excellent understated performances from Demi Moore and Michael Caine, especially in the small facial gestures when stressed and so on. The settings etc; all add to a nice retro feel. You really get a sense that they tried hard to build the 1960s into this - very buttoned-down, very regimented, a very male world.

One of the major attractions for us was that the sense of pace builds slowly - and compared to the Bank Job I have to say this is the better movie.

All in all a clever, entertaining film, with a good script and very nice central performances, and even a human message.

Definitely recommended

Set in London in 1960, the aptly named "Flawless" features Demi Moore as Laura Quinn, the first woman to become senior negotiator at Lon Di, the world's premier diamond firm. However, Quinn has pretty much hit the glass ceiling career-wise with the company, and when she discovers that she is about to be let go from the firm, she agrees to join forces with the night janitor (Michael Caine) in his plan to rob the vault of a thermos-full of uncut diamonds.

"Flawless" is a good old-fashioned caper tale done with an abundance of wit, intelligence and style and just enough twists and turns in the plot to keep the audience on its toes throughout. Moore and Caine make a perfect team as the duo plotting the heist, while director Michael Radford generates enough suspense for a dozen average thrillers. The script by Edward Anderson even manages to squeeze in some points about early '60's feminism and South African apartheid along the way.

Definitely worth seeing.