The information on: `Place Vendome'

What Is It?

A new French arthouse thriller, set against a backdrop of intrigue in the international gem trade, directed by Nicole Garcia.

Who's In it?

Most notably, Catherine Deneuve (right), who won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her role. She plays Marianne, an alcoholic, who has to confront some sobering aspects of her past when her husband, Vincent (Bernard Fresson), suddenly dies. Jean-Pierre Bacri, Emmanuelle Seigner and Jacques Dutronc all also feature.

What They Say About It

"... you have on paper a seductive proposition. Sadly, the enterprise is hampered by funereal pacing and indecisive plotting: I never felt quite sure what was going on, and suspected I wouldn't care even if I did. As for Deneuve, age has weathered but not withered her - if anything it's made her face more hauntingly opaque. She's wonderful in that distracted, faintly tragic way of hers, but what dull films they put her in nowadays," Anthony Quinn, The Independent.

"Nicole Garcia's edgy psychological thriller doesn't succeed on all levels but offers many pleasures, notably the performances of the hangdog Jean- Pierre Bacri as Nathalie's [Seigner's] cohort, the superb, Gabin-like Fresson, and Deneuve in a prize-winning study in dignity regained," Wally Hammond, Time Out.

"It's the Frenchness of the performances, articulately understated and subtly interrelated, that holds the tensions. That and the marvellous Catherine Deneuve," Alexander Walker, Evening Standard.

Where You Can See It

Place Vendome (15, 117 mins ) is on selected release.