Arsène Lupin

Spectacular production of a novel written by Maurice Leblanc about the character, Arsene lupin, known perhaps to many Europeans and video game addicts, but not much to the rest of the film-going community. Great for Saturday afternoon film going and very much unlike any French produced film I've seen before. Young actor, Romain Duris, does a decent job of portraying Arsene Lupin in his youth and early beginnings as a gentleman thief. It's very difficult to take your eyes off him. He plays the part more as a modern day version of the old-fashioned character - grungy and hairy and all that. Up and coming young actress, Eva Green, plays his childhood sweetheart with just the proper amount of restrain. Overall a finely tuned performance. Kristin Scott Thomas plays the Countess of Cagliostro and outrightly steals the movie. She is no match for the gentleman cambrioleur. Anyone familiar with her other films will not recognize her as the exotic, over-sexed and murderous femme-fatale. It's a multi-dimensional and very soulful performance. The rest of the cast provide superlative work. I'm sure there will be lots of comparisons to Indiana Jones. However, the difference here is the well written and intelligent screenplay. The French has finally come up with their version of an action adventure that everyone can enjoy, but doesn't insult your intelligence.. I didn't think they were capable. A most enjoyable film to watch.

First of all, the 2 hours movie is enjoyable,, at least until the last hour.. Things start good ,, the build up,, the story line,, the characters.. all good. Then they stat the main adventure of the "treasure" thing! . Anyhow it keeps getting better.. then... then... all of the sudden, things change... and that's the second half.

In the second half you don't know what the hell is happening! he loves this, then sleeps with that and loves her, she betray him, then not, then yes, then back to the first, then his father, then the treasure, then the woman, then the father, the witch, the crosses.. OMG .. it just kept going on and on!!! Every time you think this is the final scene they start a new thing, so there is a moment where you just don't give a damn about the story you just watch a twist after twist. No honestly, you will think the movie ended several time then!! Voilaaa.. it's on again!!

That was crazy, enjoyable, fun yea.. but too much that I feel I got old now!!

"Arsen Lupin" and "Immortel" were among the films that i went to see during the French Film festival in Belgrade. While i immortel left a good impression on me Arsen Lupin got me and a couple of my friends laughing. Here's why: First of all, "The Adventures of Arsen Lupin" are a series of books which tell a story of a Gentleman Thief in the 19th century. The books are enjoyable if you are a fan of romantic-adventure novels.

The film tries to squeeze a few of these books into a whole. This was in my opinion a mistake from the start. The film starts unwinding at about the 1 hour mark and keeps unwinding for another hour, meaning that its ending for a whole hour. The scenes quickly jump from one thing to another not explaining the who or why, characters come and go, places, things, details... After an hour or so you can't even remember what happened 2 minutes ago and frankly you stop caring since the plot makes 360 degree turns every frame. Instead you catch yourself enjoying the unbelievable plot twists and the speed at which they unfold in a bad way, I had the whole cinema laughing throughout the second part of the film. All the characters are switched around, so in the end his father is trying to kill him (WHY?!), oh yeah and he is searching for this treasure which is shown by placing certain crosses together.

Also he seems to be in love with a witch/devil character who tries to use him but doesn't, then does and so on... Another comic character was the witch's henchman who had a metal plate covering half of his face, his role is also unclear. The costumes and scenery are very well done but they don't do much to fix the script, editing and awful directing. The first half of the film starts out slow and slightly boring but the second half is fast, confusing and outright funny. I loved laughing my head off at the unbelievable plot twists in the second half of the film. Otherwise its not worth seeing this film.

I watched "Arsène Lupin" a few months ago, and I am very astonished when I read some opinions here. This movie is... how can I say that ? simply bad ! For the first time of my life I was ready to take my coat and walk out after only 30 minutes. And what a pity ! Because they could play with one of the most popular French character, because it seems they had a big budget to make it (I mean for a French movie), and because they smashed almost everything. OK, Romain Duris was an excellent Arsene Lupin and I must applaud the set decoration and costume design work too. But that's it ! Special mentions for the worst film editing I've ever seen and for an overloaded storyline. Disappointing.

I. Adler

A fan of Lupin ( I read almost all the novels), I entered the movie theater with great expectations and came out with mixed feelings, but with a margin of admiration. That's certainly the best of the cinematic technical renditions of Maurice Leblanc's immortal personnage (the TV renditions are all below standard).But after John Barrymore and Melvyn Douglas, Jules Berry and Robert Lamoureux brought a conception of the main character which is absent from this superproduction. The two guys from Toronto (nice city, I lived there six months) who sent positive comments are mostly correct. The other from Italy is right when he predicts "failure abroad" (this movie is already losing momentum in Paris only a week after its premiere and severe reviews). Now let's be lucid: most of the French movie critics are hopeful future cinematographers, and they react furiously when a newcomer comes up with a movie that reflects a good use of a heavy investment, which was the case with many films by Claude Lelouch, and applies also for ARSENE LUPIN (2004). J.P. Salomé did a fine job with the millions he was able to raise, and most of the actors look real. Too bad Lupin is not one of them; I didn't recognize my Arsene from Romain Duris' impersonation, although he tried hard (and his stunts were Indy Jones, Tarzan and Flash Gordon reunited). To put it simply, the Arsene Lupin standing up on the screen for me had not the class I remember from Maurice Leblanc's sensational novels. I just went across a lengthy interview I made with Claude Leblanc (son of Maurice)in 1992, when he was 90 years old (he died two years later). I'm sorry to say, Romain Duris is no match to the list of the former Lupins (except Charles Korvin, in the last of the three movies made by MGM), including Georges Descrières, classy, but unable to save the TV versions. But how can you concentrate "813" in 52 minutes? And the ending, with Franz-Ferdinand of Austria murdered in front of the Gare de l'Est, is purely ridiculous, almost an insult to the millions of youngsters who were murdered after the Sarajevo catastrophe. J.P. Salomé probably imagined that moviegoers would smile at that: none did, at least in my sparsely populated theater. If he imagined it as a prelude to a new sequel, he missed the point. Too bad, because I generally enjoyed his movie and appreciated the efforts deployed to make it a success. I sincerely wish it good luck. harry carasso, Paris