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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost "Flawless", July 29, 2008
Laura Quinn (Demi Moore) is a rarity for 1960. She is a Vice President with the world's largest diamond wholesaler, based in London. She watches in frustration as all of her male co-workers are promoted around her, leaving her with the same responsibilities, the same office, the same schedule. She comes in early every day and leaves last every night, yet her boss Sir Milton Ashtoncroft (Joss Ackland) doesn't seem to notice. Ashtoncroft is a shady character at best, but Quinn realizes she will never be able to get a comparable job anywhere else. Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine), one of the many janitors, has worked for the same company for years. In his nightly rounds, he has made observations and approaches Ms. Quinn with an idea. He could, with her assistance, steal a small handful of diamonds from the company vault, enough to set them each up for a long time. They could each escape the lives they are trapped in. Quinn is dubious but Mr. Hobbs shows her how he would do it, and she is on board. But it looks like Mr. Hobbs has other ideas and other motives.
"Flawless", directed by Michael Radford ("Il Postino") is an interesting, overlooked film. At it's heart, "Flawless" is a caper film "based on a true story", but it presents so many other ideas and themes, making it more complex and watch able.
Michael Caine is, as always, great. Mr. Hobbs is the kindly old man you see hobbling along, happy with his place in life, always eager and willing to do his job. But as we learn more and more about him, we see there are many other levels to his character. Caine is a great actor, a subtle actor and he reveals these layers slowly making them more believable and surprising. It isn't Caine's best performance ever, but Mr. Hobbs is immensely watch able.
Demi Moore is also good as Laura Quinn, an American woman working for an international firm in London in 1960. She realizes how hard she has to work to maintain this position, so she comes to work early and leaves late, always checking in with security as she does so. But what does this get her? A lot of lonely nights at her flat, eating dinner alone. As the story progresses, we see Quinn's aggravation with her situation, but because she has to still maintain her persona, she can't become too emotional or upset. This becomes an asset to their plan.
And when the diamonds are stolen, the company calls in an investigator, Finch (Lambert Wilson). Perhaps the best thing about "Flawless" is that everyone is pretty smart; Mr. Hobbs comes up with the plan, Quinn contributes certain qualities and Finch begins to suspect certain people as he tries to figure out how the robbery was accomplished.
Michael Radford, who gained a lot of attention with "Il Postino", has struggled since, releasing a series of films that were either critically maligned, quickly forgotten by the public, or both. Unfortunately, "Flawless" won't change his fortunes, but it is a good film.
As the story and the heist proceed, he uses the canvas as a way to introduce many other themes, helping to establish the time and setting for the film. The company Quinn and Hobbs work for is a huge diamond collective based in Botswana. In addition to the heist, the company officers have to handle the press who are circling because of the daily protests about the company's involvement with blood diamonds. Laura Quinn recognizes she is a rarity; a female executive at a large corporation in London, and an American woman at that. So this causes her to be a bit tentative and reluctant to join Hobbs plan. Instead, she would rather continue trying to work hard; continue trying to beat at the glass ceiling. As the story unfolds, and she begins to realize how her male co-workers treat her, she knows she will never rise above her current situation.
The story takes some unexpected turns because Hobbs and Quinn aren't honest with one another. And this provides a mild level of excitement. When we finally learn the motive behind the robbery, another theme is introduced.
If this film is, as stated, "based on a true story", it is a story that far ahead of its time. It is for this reason that I have to wonder how much of this story is based on real events. I suspect not much. But "Flawless" is a pleasant diversion and a great film to watch on DVD.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Enough Sparkle, September 9, 2008
There's nothing really wrong with this film - it just seems to fall sort of flat. There isn't the chemistry there should be between Michael Caine and Demi Moore. And their diamond heist plan is only allowed to move forward by virtue of a couple of highly improbable strokes of good luck - such as having a pair of binoculars fall into Moore's hands at just the right moment.
There is also something a little disturbingly harsh and unconvincing about the lighting and make-up work on this film. The stars look prematurely aged at the start of the movie. Then as the scene arcs to Demi Moore as an old woman, she looks even more unconvincing as a senior. Early movies used to do a notoriously bad job of making young people look old. Perhaps it wasn't the fault of the make-up artists. It might be even more difficult to make a young person look old than it is to make an old person look young. In the last decade or so though, the art of make-up and prosthetic devices seemed to grow equal to the task. But now "Flawless" set the art back again with Moore's obviously adventitious wrinkles.
While this is primarily a caper film, a strong secondary theme is "You've come a long way, baby!" This movie is effective at showing how precarious Demi Moore's position was in the 1960's when she was the only female executive in a diamond brokerage firm. She has to walk a thin line between coming up with a stream of innovative, profit-making ideas for the firm - and conforming to corporate culture and consensus. Whichever side of that line she falls on, she is always in danger of being undermined by her male co-workers who assume priority when it comes to corporate advancement.
However, I'm not sure the movie makes its case for how much better things are nowadays when it shows modern executive women being powerful simply by virtue of having frequently ringing cell phones and having cultivated a bustling, confident stride.
This DVD unfortunately has no full-length Director's commentary, only fragmentary "Making Of" commentaries. I would have liked an accompanying voice-over that explained a number of the confusing plot points and filled in what I thought were some missing links in the plot.
There were also no English subtitles for this film. Again, I missed those, especially in the early part of the film when Caine and Moore speak in such rapid sotto vocce that I had trouble catching everything they said.
All in all, this movie has some merit, but it's sufficient to rent it. There's nothing here to warrant making it a part of your permanent collection.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!, February 16, 2008
"Flawless" stars Demi Moore as Laura Quinn, a high-up executive in the incredibly powerful London Diamond Corporation. When dedicated, brilliant Laura is once again passed over for promotion by her chauvanistic employers, crooked handyman Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine) inducts her into his plan to steal millions of pounds worth of uncut diamonds from the seemingly-impregnable company.
With achingly beautiful, tense direction supplied by the highly talented Michael Radford ("The Merchant of Venice", "1984"), "Flawless" is more than a worthwhile thriller/heist movie: it's a brilliant showcase of Moore's talents as a serious actress, and the chemistry between Laura and the enigmatic Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine, himself on fine form) is palpable and rewarding. A solid supporting cast is made stronger by the presences of Joss Ackland as Laura's intractable C.E.O., and Simon Day as sympathetic detective Boland, both men underpinning the very strong performances given by Moore and Caine, and not allowing "Flawless" to become a mere Star Vehicle for either one. But if Caine is great (and, as usual, he's really great), then Moore is truly outstanding: her flinty, cool reading of Laura Quinn is perfectly pitched, and here's hoping that Moore will be cast in more movies of this caliber from now on.
The 1960s backdrop, with its technological redundancies, could have, in the hands of a lesser director, become a kind of whimsical playground, but it's a testament to Radford's skill that the tension in "Flawless" never lets up: sure, the televisions, safes and security cameras look sixty years old, but thanks to Radford's camerawork, every scene in "Flawless" sparkles with its own dramatic, dynamic brilliance.
My only issue with "Flawless" is the frankly stupid opening-and-closing scenes: Demi Moore in a rubber Old Lady Mask throwing a redundant Women's Lib motto in the audience's collective face. The entire premise of "Flawless" is founded on the idea of women taking charge of their own independence, and while in the 1960s timeline this works beautifully, the contemporary scenes of Laura retelling her tale to an irritating young journalist are very jarring - in terms of directorial skill and acting quality, they don't measure up to the main bulk of the picture.
Still, that notwithstanding, "Flawless" is overall an excellent movie: highly entertaining, it's a sleek and polished blockbuster with excellent central performances and some brilliant direction. Highly recommended.
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