Images from The Adventures of Arsene Lupin
Select thumbnail for full image gallery.
The Adventures of Arsene Lupin (15)
- Consumer Advice: Contains strong violence, some bloody
- Run time: 2 hours 11 mins
- Language: French
- Genre: Crime
- Release date: 9th September 2005
- Starring: Romain Duris, Kristin Scott Thomas, Pascal Greggory
- Directed by: Jean-Paul Salomé
- Distributor: Cinefile
Plot Synopsis
Boasting captivating performances from its lead actors, fabulous Cartier jewels, and a lavish production design recreating the glamorous Paris of the 1890s, this is the most spectacular French film of recent years. Arsène Lupin, the notorious thief, cuts a dash through the belle époque, ransacking the homes of wealthy Parisians.
Freely adapted from the novel by Maurice Leblanc, the film opens in 1894 with Lupin's first daring theft of a necklace once worn by Marianne Antoinette, and follows his subsequent adventures and entanglement with the mysterious, seductive Duchesse de Cagliostro (Kristin Scott Thomas). Beautiful jewels sparkle on beautiful women in a glittering world where nobody is quite who they seem, and sides are never certain.
The relationship between the two leads is electric, and alongside the explosions, kick-boxing, and police hot on the trail it makes for a rip-roaring, old-fashioned yarn, rather like old Saturday morning serial cinema. Classic locales (the secret cave, the count’s ballroom, the baddie’s boat) and a classic gentleman robber make for a perfect piece of cinematic entertainment.