Film Review

Flawless

by Telly Davidson

Set at the pre-dawn of Swinging London, director Michael Radford’s film Flawless tells the story of a frustrated American expatriate executive at London Diamond named Laura Quinn (Demi Moore). Educated at Oxford during the War, and clearly one of the most clever executives at Lon Di, the plucky Laura is about to be sacked from her job at the world’s foremost diamond brokerage as the old boys perceive her as too much of a threat.  Stunned by learning these imminent plans, Laura eventually joins in an unlikely partnership with Bill Hobbs, played by Michael Caine, an elderly janitor (ignored as a non-person by his bosses and filled with his own hidden motives) in pulling off what would have been the greatest diamond heist of the past century.
                                                
The biggest flaw in Flawless is its own identity crisis:  Is it a thriller, a character study or a social commentary on sexism and the British class system? In trying to satisfy all these levels at once, it ends up truly satisfying none of them.  Its opening and closing moments (set in the present) are tacked-on and unnecessary, reducing the suspense that the film could have otherwise had, and the well-intentioned but maudlin ending nearly makes the whole affair into a typical episode of Cold Case. While somewhat off-balanced by the cold, clinical winter colors and photography, Flawless doesn’t truly convey the timeless glamor and allure of diamonds (it could just as well have been stocks and bonds), and the denouement of “how they dun it” has a mischievously cartoonish quality.   

The always excellent Caine (who played Moore’s father in her film debut, 1984’s Blame it on Rio) makes the most of his role, managing the tricky task of balancing sympathy for his robber-codger character, while keeping a sense of clever menace intact.  Demi Moore personifies quiet cool, and usually maintains audience sympathy with Laura, who while certainly hurt by sexual prejudice and discrimination, is hardly an oppressed woman or victim.  Stage and screen veteran Joss Ackland makes for a perfect longtime boss at Lon Di, the very picture of old-money power and privilege, and Lambert Wilson brings a dryly alluring, soul-on-iceburn sexuality to his role as the discreet chief investigator of the crime.       

For a movie about a robbery of Ocean’s Eleven level proportions, Flawless suffers from an inappropriate idealism.  Radford tries to close on a note of redemption and self-discovery, and that’s noble, but such themes could have been far better conveyed with the same understatement and implication that is otherwise the film’s strongest suit.  It’s fine for those who want a cosy game of cat-and-mouse amongst the upper-crust financial set, but ultimately Flawless is a Columbo movie without Columbo.