L'Empereur de Paris

2018 [FRENCH]

Action / Adventure / Crime / History / Thriller

18
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 70% · 10 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 61%
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 6911 6.9K

prison hulk based on a true story vidocq historically inaccurate paris, france based on true story

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Plot summary

Paris, France, early 19th century. The legendary convict François Vidocq lives in disguise trying to escape from a tragic past that torments him. When, after an unfortunate event, he crosses paths with the police chief, he makes a bold decision that will turn the ruthless mastermind of the Parisian underworld against him.

Director

Jean-François Richet Photo
Jean-François Richet

Top cast

Vincent Cassel Photo
Vincent Cassel as François Vidocq
Olga Kurylenko Photo
Olga Kurylenko as La Baronne
Nicolas de Lavergne Photo
Nicolas de Lavergne as Un Deuxième Prisonnier Bicêtre
August Diehl Photo
August Diehl as Nathanaël
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.08 GB
1280*534
French 2.0
TV-MA
Subtitles
23.976 fps
2 hr 0 min
Seeds 2
2.21 GB
1920*800
French 5.1
TV-MA
Subtitles
23.976 fps
2 hr 0 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by CinemaSerf 6 / 10

“Vidocq” (Vincent Cassel) is thriving amidst the underworld

“Vidocq” (Vincent Cassel) is thriving amidst the underworld of Napoleonic France but having been wrongly convicted of murder and escaped from captivity, is keen to go straight and earn an amnesty from the government. That might be possible, but for that to happen he is going to have to co-operate with the embryonic Sûreté and help track down some insurgents. Needless to say, when rumours start to flow that he has turned his coat, the fraternity that was once his safe source of his anonymity now starts to make his life even more dangerous than his new task. Historically, this has it’s roots in an actual man who was instrumental in setting up a French national police force, but as this goes, we are presented with a great looking drama that’s really lacking in depth or characterisation. Save for a few potent appearances from Fabrice Luchini as the cynically duplicitous minister Fouché, the underused but still useful August Diehl’s duplicitous Nathanaël and an enthusiastic effort from James Thiérrée as the dashing, cavalier-like Duc de Neufchâteau it’s all a rather pedestrian affair that seems to imbue Vidocq with a certain degree of implausible immortality. Perhaps it is just simply trying to condense too much history into two hours but we never seem to get to know any of these folk; to get even the most basic understanding of what drove them nor of how precarious the whole French empire was at the time. It also tries too hard to involve us in half-cooked internecine plots that aren’t properly explained or put into context, and so might as well be a few stand alone (and sometimes quite repetitive) episodes of “The Three Musketeers” meets “The Count of Monte Cristo”. Cassel does own the part and the production designers and the armourers have done a great job creating a dark and gritty environment for this history to unfold, but believe it or not it can almost verge on the dull at times. There’s a solid ensemble cast backing things up, but it’s ultimately a bit of a meringue of a story - lots of topping but not much underneath.
Reviewed by Mohican15 7 / 10

JAMES BOND Meets LES MISÉRABLES!

Jean-François Richet's THE EMPEROR OF PARIS is a highly fictionalised and highly romanticised retelling of the early life of one Eugène François Vidocq- the notorious real life career criminal who survived the infamous "Reign of Terror" of the early 1790s to become the virtual "founding father" of France's first National Police Force.The film's cast is excellent, with many of the heavyweights of modern European cinema (Vincent Cassel, August Diehl, Olga Kurylenko etc...) joining together with a younger generation of rising European stars (Freya Mavor, Némo Schiffman etc...) to breath real life into their characters with fiery, passionate performances. The characters themselves are mostly excellent: Vincent Cassel's Jean ValBond, August Diehl's sinister Nathanaël de Wenger (a role with clear shades of Diehl's scene-stealing turn in 2009's INGLORIOUS Bs as the monstrous SS Major Hellstrom) and James Thiérrée's Duc de Neufchâteau- swaggering into (and promptly stealing) each scene he's in whilst cutting a bloody path throughout the film with his hussar's sabre! The attention to set detail (though a large portion of the film's background environment is sadly digitally-mastered) and action choreography both make THE EMPEROR OF PARIS one heck of an entertaining ride! The film's only major problems are its pacing and its script.You're never really allowed to get bored during this film, as Cassel's morally ambidextrous Vidocq grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you down into a murky Parisian underworld of thieves, burglars, cutthroats, killers and renegades. However, any significant character development is promptly sacrificed in the process and when several leading characters are killed off during the film's final act, it produces no real emotional reaction from the viewer. A shame really, especially considering the acting talent on display.This film's other main problem is its script. The trailer portrayed a very different kind of film to the one we actually got: a former chain gang member-turned detective hunting a killer through the backstreets of Napoleonic Paris and dipping his toes into a ruthless criminal underworld. That's sort of what we got... but on a much smaller, simpler scale. The anti-hero (who very quickly becomes just an ordinary "good guy") goes straight from A to B and despite having a few genuinely thrilling twists and turns, the film has him arrive at his destination with very little deviation.To me, it just feels like the film could've explored the world it was trying to create in a much deeper, broader way: prioritising the role of Maillard's underworld and Vidocq's hunt for a killer. What we got instead was a bog-standard action-adventure romp... which was perfectly fine! But (in my opinion) the film settles for far less than the story was actually capable of achieving.
Reviewed by jimcheva 6 / 10

Fun for what it is, but leaves the history behind

A missed opportunity, if you know Vidocq's 'real' story (itself probably half-fiction), his skill at disguises and undercover work for instance. As it is, we end up with a period action drama which gleefully ignores how long it took to load period pistols to allow a number of Western style shoot-outs and various hand to hand combat, as well as at least two beautiful women to add romance. The result is somewhere between "The Count of Monte Christo" and "Cartouche", with hints of early nineteenth century political intrigue scattered all through it. There are felicities - the opening promises an earthy brutality which quickly disappears, and the views of period Paris seem well-researched. It's also a surprise to discover Olga Kurylenko, whom many Bond fans will know, but whom I last saw playing a beautiful Cuban dancer in "Magic City" as a sulphorous baronne (speaking perfect French). I hadn't seen Lucchini for decades, so was taken aback by his age. A fun film in many ways, but not really a film I would have watched had I known it was going to so blithely ignore the source material.

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