Vidocq (2001 film)

This article is about the 2001 film. For the French criminal, see Eugène François Vidocq.

Vidocq
Film poster
Directed by	Pitof
Produced by	Dominique Farrugia
Written by	Eugène François Vidocq (memoirs) Pitof Jean-Christophe Grangé (screenplay)
Starring	Gérard Depardieu Guillaume Canet Inés Sastre André Dussollier
Music by	Bruno Coulais
Cinematography	Jean-Pierre Sauvaire Jean-Claude Thibout
Editing by	Thierry Hoss
Distributed by	UGC-Fox Distribution (France) Lionsgate (USA)
Release date(s)	September 19, 2001 (France) January 2, 2007 (USA)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Budget	FRF 152,000,000 (estimated)

Vidocq (North American DVD title: Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidocq) is a 2001 mystery film, directed by Pitof, starring Gérard Depardieu as historical figure Eugène François Vidocq pursuing a supernatural serial killer. It is notable as being the first major fantasy film to be released that was shot entirely with digital cinematography, using a Sony HDW-F900 CineAlta camera.^[1]

Plot

In 19th century Paris, the famed detective Vidocq (Gérard Depardieu) disappears while pursuing a murderer called the Alchemist.

Etienne Boisset (Guillaume Canet), a young biographer of Vidocq's, follows in his footsteps and progressively uncovers Vidocq's investigations. He learns how Vidocq was first called in to investigate a series of assassinations by lightning, which led him to pursue the Alchemist. Etienne discovers that the Alchemist is a wizard of sorts who wears a mirrored mask and kills virgins to maintain eternal youth. Even the sex of the Alchemist is a mystery, because it sometimes utters mocking feminine sighs during combat with Vidocq. Etienne probes deeper into Vidocq's investigations and eventually comes to learn that the Alchemist uses virgin blood to make magical mirrors that consume human souls. At the end the identity of the Alchemist is revealed.

Technology

The film featured 800 shots modified in post-production over a period of eight months,^[2] for a cost of over €20 million.^[3] As the final PAL DVD release shows, the film was shot 50i (interlaced), and only special effects shots were deinterlaced by means of smart field blending (imitating a progressive-type amount of motion blur due to a different shutter speed of progressive modes) during post-production, as the special effects crew obviously was in demand of progressive frames which are easier to process for special effects, before for the final release all normal shots were deinterlaced by means of simple line interpolation instead. The result are video-like appearance of motions in normal shots, and distinctive film-like motions for all effect shots due to the different amount of motion blur resulting from the different deinterlacing methods.

Cast

• Gérard Depardieu as Vidocq
• Guillaume Canet as Étienne Boisset
• Inés Sastre as Préah
• André Dussollier as Lautrennes
• Edith Scob as Sylvia
• Moussa Maaskri as Nimier
• Jean-Pierre Gos as Tauzet
• Isabelle Renauld as Marine Lafitte
• Jean-Pol Dubois as Belmont
• André Penvern as Veraldi
• Gilles Arbona as Lafitte
• Jean-Marc Thibault as Leviner
• François Chattot as Froissard

References

1. ^ Charles Masters (February 15, 2000). "French 'vidocq' A High-definition First". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.allbusiness.com/services/motion-pictures/4941598-1.html. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
2. ^ "Vidocq — Filmreview". Cinergy AG. http://www.cineman.ch/en/movie/2001/Vidocq/review.html. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 
3. ^ Laurent Ziliani. "Vidocq review". La Plume Noire. http://www.plume-noire.com/movies/reviews/vidocq.html. Retrieved 2008-09-18. 

External links

• Vidocq at the Internet Movie Database
• History of Vidocq, private detective, with the reading (French) of Vidocq's letters by an actor: [1] (French) (Centre d'information sur les détectives), or [2] (English)