[US Release date March 28, 2008]

It's not about the rocks

Just weeks following the US release of Donaldson's Seventies-period Bank Job, here comes yet another creditable if not altogether earth-shaking period heist flick from England, this time one set in the Sixties. It features an unconventional burglary duo: an ambitious American-born Oxford-educated woman executive, Laura Quinn (Demi Moore) and a mild-mannered old janitor near retirement called Hobbs (Michael Caine). Together they conspire to bring the largest diamond firm in the world to its knees by plundering its vast stock from an ultra-secure vault at the firm's London headquarters, at which both happen to work. As the real mastermind of this inside job, Hobbs is is a man who wants more than just gems or money (though we find out what only later). He's spent fifteen years planning the caper, ever since his wife died prematurely of cancer. Laura Quinn is a lone female executive passed over time and time again for a promotion, and now, as she learns from Hobb's snooping, likely to be sacked. She does however still have access to secrets of the security system Hobbs hasn't been able to get his hands on, and this leads him to seek her collaboration.

With her long ebony hair swept back and her pale face immaculately made up, the handsomely aging Moore shows off her thin shapely form in a succession of elegant fitted suit dresses of the period, for the office; a posh blue gown for evening wear; and, for clandestine meetings, a smart hat. Moore's dashing look blends seamlessly with the film's generally suave and classy mise-en-scène. Rather less successfully, she also appears in a framing device heavily made up as an old lady being interviewed by a female journalist of today collecting material on women from back then who "paved the way." Caine's wardrobe is hardly worthy of mention, nor is the raft of truisms his character brings out in every scene to express the wisdom of age. But as the man who wrote the book on laid back screen acting, he wears his role as comfortably as an old shoe, and his ease makes a nice foil to Moore's edge.

Unlike the action-packed and sometimes violent Bank Job this is a mild-mannered tale whose one on-screen weapon isn't even loaded, but to keep things from being sleep-inducing the story line has a well-paced robbery sequence and several neat surprise plot twists in store. Most notably, as in Spike Lee's Inside Man, after getting only a glimpse of the robbery we're left with the big riddle of how the loot was removed and where it's been stashed. But while Lee seemed to have cheapened himself a bit in that genre excursion, the thought of its complex Mamet-like convolutions and big colorful cast may make Flawless seem, by comparison, a gem of decidedly lesser luster. Its plot surprises probably won't raise your blood pressure. There are references to South Africa's "virtual slave labor," a crucial Russian contract, and the clout of diamonds in the world economy, as well as a glimpse of "blood diamond" street picketers, to widen the outlook, but the piece stands or falls on the way it spotlights the contrasting protagonists, the elegant lady and the rough-hewn old bloke, she tense and uncertain, he (sententiously) philosophical and calmly calculating. The two work well together and Moore manages her side very creditably, though it's still the contrast that carries the day rather than any depth of character development on either side. As the Variety reviewer Jonathan Holland puts it, Hobbs plays Quinn "Like a Cockney Iago," teasing out all her weaknesses and anger to make her help him in this extremely risky venture.

Unfortunately, most of the subsidiary characters are just noisy cardboard cutouts representing such necessary elements as the ruthless and apoplectic boss of the company, Sir Milton Ashtoncroft (Joss Ackland), his various toadies, and his chief enemy, the head of the insurance company which wants anything but to pay up the value of the vast stolen cache. They're a loud and frenetic but ultimately stereotypical lot. What happened to the depth and subtlety of Fifties and Sixties English film casts? And where is the old Ealing spirit of fun? Luckily there is the Franco-Irish Lambert Wilson as the head investigator, Detective Finch, a man with a military edge to his chin, a zealous manner, and an ambivalent attraction to Ms. Moore's character: he seems quite unsure whether to bed her or book her. Wilson is like Pascal Greggory, whom he resembles, without the put-upon, neurotic air. The presence of Finch adds a tiny bat-squeak of desire that's direly needed.

Unlike the visually ordinary Bank Job, Flawless as befits its name and its bling-bling topic does look really good: it's stylishly designed and photographed throughout. Moore seems dressy even when roaming a sewer, and the company entrance hall and much else has a gloss and visual sweep that give pleasure. Too bad about the goody-goody ending, which makes things feel pedestrian again, just when the suspenseful robbery and detective sequences had livened things up. A smooth and watchable but not very exciting effort.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.