Wonderful character development!

ridiculous rating

Nice effects though.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The Deneuve's film. The story has not any original element, the action is confuse, the theme of widow in rout is very old. But, the value of this movie exists. And it is present in every scene.Catherine Deneuve's art is the solution. The art to transmit gestures of an ambiguous fight is subtle and powerful.The elements of resignation are pieces of beautiful miniature.The tiredness, relation with the past, limits of memories, color of words, revenge's intentions, search and fear, gems and victims are episodes of an essential trip .Marianne is not only a character of a French actress but reflexion of a magnificent art, in every acting detail is a touching drop of precision.A film with faint brightness and misty soul.

If this movie had been better paced and had more likable and 3-dimensional characters I would have liked it a lot. As it is, it's at best an average movie. But, the movie is slow as molasses and the pacing crawls like a snail. But, given that Catherine Deneuve's character seems underdeveloped and unlikable, the movie SEEMS even longer and slower than it is. It's really a shame, as there were elements of a good story but it just looks like the film was rushed into production before the complex plot was worked out--sort of looking like it was improvised. And, because of that, it's difficult to know WHO Deneuve is--a drunk, an idiot or a person who LOOKS like a drunk idiot but isn't. Regardless, the film just seemed unreal and pointless. In addition, it abounds with shaky camera work--obviously it was shot with cheap equipment. I'm sorry to sound so negative, but the French are capable of much better stories than this.

I've been checking out the comments for this movie and am slightly surprised that no one has noted what appears to be a fairly obvious metaphor. Diamonds are cold, hard, many faceted and beautiful. Catherine Deneuve is the star here. I rest my case. There is, of course, more to it than that but not a lot more. It's French so it's stylish by definition but Nicole Garcia, like so many French actors/writers/directors, was born in Oran, Algeria - gateway to Lisbon and, by definition, a free world, as we learned in the first reel of 'Casablanca' - so there's also something of the outsider element, the shopgirl who came to the ball because her beauty captured the heart of the Second Son, and who feels always slightly uneasy that it all may end tomorrow. So, what do we get for our money? Style, opulence, quasi-noir, great acting. Is that enough? You tell me. 7/10

Unlike that silly In The Bedroom, This was the perfect movie to watch when I had nothing much else to watch. As far as a french film, it was so so, but I felt it was rather good in it's suspense. Not too well setup, but it was a fairly good rental. Emmanuelle Seigner is simply stunning. The dvd contains severall interesting movie trailers too.7/10Quality: 5/10 Entertainment: 7/10 Replayable: 4/10