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"Please refrain from giving me absolution."
The film, "The Elegant Criminal" from director Francis Girod is based on the true story of the 19th Century French criminal Pierre Lacenaire. Lacenaire was executed by guillotine for his crimes--but not before he amused and outraged Parisian society during the course of his trial with his verbal skills, sacrilegious statements, and amoral outlook on life.

Daniel Auteuil--one of my very favourite French actors--is Lacenaire. The story begins in a Parisian jail, and Lacenaire receives his final visitors on the eve of his execution. The film then artfully goes back in time to Lacenaire's boyhood in a Jesuit school. Lacenaire's story is told through flashbacks from memories of his friends and acquaintances, and also through Lacenaire's memoirs as he finalises his book for publication following his death.

Lacenaire lacks introspection when it comes to personal responsibility, and he's quick to launch blame at others. He blames corrupt Jesuits for his boyhood defiance, and while he exploits his mother, he blames her for her generosity, and she is one of his first victims. In adulthood, Lacenaire embarks on a life of crime, but he doesn't have the taste for the necessary violence, so he becomes involved with a series of henchmen--the brutish Francois, the primitive Avril (Lacenaire's accomplice and lover), and the dog-like Baton. But Lacenaire's accomplices are basically stupid people, and they are destined to be caught.

Lacenaire isn't a particularly nice person--even before he embarks on his life of crime, but Auteuil plays the character with all of the charm he can--from a smile that leaps onto his face a little too readily--to the clever wit that dazzled and inspired fans to attend his trial and visit him in prison. Lacenaire was something of a 19th Century phenomenon--he troubled society enough for phrenologists to visit him in jail and grope his forehead for tell-tale lumps that might indicate the origin of his reprehensible and unremorseful character. Women flocked to visit him in jail, and Lacenaire even gave press conferences and held court with famous writers of the day. But in spite of it all, no-one understood him or his basically wicked nature. Auteuil is a very gifted actor, and he manages to portray all the sides of Lacenaire--the gifted wit, but the bungling criminal--the brilliant orator, and the bad poet, the object of sexual desire, and the impotent lover.

Lacenaire was a tremendous influence on society--even though he wasn't really much of a criminal (his devotion to crime should have made him an expert). He claimed that he modelled his life of crime on the memoirs of Vidocq--the French master criminal who eventually became the French equivalent of the Chief of Police. (For Balzac fans, Balzac based his character, Vautrin on Vidocq.) Dostoevsky wrote "Crime and Punishment" based on Lacenaire's crime, and the character Raskolnikov's crime mirrors Lacenaire's. Viewers will no doubt make the connection between Lacenaire's bungled crime and the murder in "Crime and Punishment." Lacenaire's memoirs are now out-of-print but a translation by Philip Stead can be tracked down by those interested to know more. This is an entertaining film--a good story with superb acting, but keep in mind that it is about some rather nasty people who commit some nasty crimes. This film is not upbeat. It's not a 'feel good' film with a redemptive ending--only Lacenaire's black sense of humour and Auteuil's talent keep this film from being a very dark adventure indeed. For those interested in 19th Century France, "The Elegant Criminal" really is a must--displacedhuman.