The
world diamond capital is Antwerp, Belgium, but in Paris the
diamond trade is located principally on the street that is
featured in the title of a 1997 French film, Place Vendôme,
directed and written by Nicole García, which opened in Los
Angeles in September 2000. The film focuses on Marianne (played
by Catherine Deneuve), who twenty years earlier tried to sell
diamonds at a time when merchants did not allow women to advance
very far in the profession. Accordingly, she became a courier
for a diamond thief, Battistelli (played by Jacque Dutronc).
One day she was caught with the stolen gems on her person
by aides to Vincent Malivert (played by Bernard Fresson),
the proprietor of one of the most respected firms at Place
Vendôme. Rather than pressing charges, he married her, but
she was blackballed from future diamond sales. Condemned to
be a housewife, she became an alcoholic, sleeping at a medical
clinic more often than at home. When the film begins, Malivert
appears troubled. It appears that he has used company funds
to purchase diamonds on the black market from the Russian
mafia, which is trying to dominate the trade and thus marginalize
DeBeers. When the gems are recut and sold on the open market,
London diamond merchants soon find out that Malivert's diamonds
are part of the haul from the theft and they are in no mood
to assist Malivert in making up a shortfall in company funds,
as creditors (including the Russian mafia) are demanding payment.
With the company bankrupt, stocks plummet, the firm is put
up for sale, and Malivert commits suicide because his reputation
has been totally shattered. Marianne responds to the death
of her husband by sobering up after she discovers seven magnificent
stolen diamonds in a safe at home. Rather than agreeing to
transfer the ownership of the Malivert firm, her plan is to
make the company solvent by selling the stolen diamonds, but
no reputable firm will buy them. Thus, she finally agrees
to sell the firm to a Bombay diamond merchant. Nevertheless,
she still has the stolen diamonds and wants to sell them to
make her life comfortable, so she contacts Battistelli, who
offers to help, presumably out of friendship and guilt; however,
he is part of the Russian mafia. After driving to the Belgian
coast to meet up with a supposed prospective buyer, they have
sex again the night before the expected sale. However, in
the morning he turns the diamonds over to the Russian mafia,
freeing Marianne from hot pursuit by the Russian mafia so
that she can lead her own life more securely thereafter. The
film also focuses on a younger women, Nathalie (played by
Emmanuelle Seigner), an employee of Malivert as well as Battistelli’s
courier, who doubtless arranged the contact between her husband
and the Russian mafia. Marianne tries to save Nathalie from
being blackballed in the diamond business. Thus, the film's
female director depicts the adverse consequences that ensue
when women allow themselves to become overdependent on men.
MH
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