The Emperor of Paris

Criminal, adventurer, and successful government official Francois Vidocq, who streamlined the work of the police apparatus, was a fascinating figure in French history, and if Gaumont made a realistic historical drama about his life, it would still be a thrilling ride far from dry boredom. However, Jean-Francois Richet approached it differently and took Vidocq's character as a starting point for filming a romanticized adventure story in the style of popular pulp fiction novels, where all the beloved ingredients are present, such as love, revenge, honor, betrayal, and intrigue. Beautiful women appear and bloodthirsty bandits are crawling everywhere. There is no shortage of gunshots or sword strikes and relentless fights to the death. As a bonus, we get to meet the master of behind-the-scenes games, who supported a number of conflicting regimes - Minister of the Interior Fouché. The Emperor of Paris is an honest return to the tradition of adventurous historical epics with a grand production and prominent actors in the foreground. Vincent Cassel was a great choice, Olga Kurylenko fits the role of a courtesan, and Freya Mavor was an interesting surprise for me. She has a similar look to a young Marlene Jobert. It is true that the screenplay at times disregards logic and a few action scenes are overly exaggerated for greater effect, but let's be honest, these flaws were often more prevalent in old, good genre classics. Overall impression: 75%. (08/08/2021)

The atmosphere of The Emperor of Paris is comparable to the French masterpiece Les Misérables, but that's where all the similarities end. Unfortunately, the story doesn't stand on a very solid foundation and thus it feels somewhat fragmented. In addition, the initial tension fades as the story progresses. My full attention was deservedly won by the charismatic Vincent Cassel, but that's not enough to get me excited about the film. (70%) (02/02/2021)

It's not as harsh and gloomy as the famous psychedelic Phantom of Paris from 2001, where the title song was composed by Apocalyptica and it always starts to play in my head whenever I remember it. It’s still harsh and gloomy enough for today’s audience. This is mainly due to Vincent Cassel, who’ll probably play these tough, disheveled characters until the day he dies. But I like this. For many people here it is probably too old school to give it good rating; otherwise I can’t explain why a period-set mystery like this would be rated under 70%. If you know something about Vidocq’s historical importance, the ending of the film cannot fail to bring you joy. (11/15/2019)

On the one hand, what I find disappointing is that the highly stimulating material of Vidocq’s life (furthermore, backed up by such a great cast, director and production design) is reduced to a mere dime-a-dozen adventure that lacks logic. On the other hand, we can be pleased that it is nevertheless a fine, uncompromising movie in which emotions are well portrayed. In fact, it inevitably seems like a successful adaptation of one of Xavier Dorison's albums. Whether that is a positive or a negative, however, is a completely different question. In my opinion, it is positive and not an insignificant one. (11/17/2019)

France, Vincent Cassel and the best historical film of this year. The main character is the dreaded Vidocq, a famous thief with a great reputation who is forced to work with the police due to adverse conditions and decides to clean the streets of murderers, thieves and similar vermin. Great period atmosphere, a breathtaking Vincent, great narrative pace, awesome sets and plenty of suspense and of course a piece of history. Good stuff. 85%. (08/08/2019)