Arsène Lupine - The King Among Thieves

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Movie
German title Arsène Lupine - The King Among Thieves
Original title Arsène Lupine
Country of production France , Italy , Spain , Great Britain
original language French
Publishing year 2004
length 131 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jean-Paul Salomé
script Jean-Paul Salomé
Laurent Vachaud
Maurice Leblanc (novel)
Nicolas Saada
production Stéphane Marsil
Christopher Granier-Deferre
music Debbie Wiseman
camera Pascal Ridao
cut Marie-Pierre Ridaud
occupation
synchronization

Arsène Lupine - The King Among Thieves is a French adventure film directed by Jean-Paul Salomé from 2004 based on the literary model by Maurice Leblanc .

action

France 1882 at the beginning of the Belle Époque : little Arsène Lupine lives with his parents in a castle in Normandy , which his aunt lives with her family. When his father Théophraste, who works for the master of the house, Duke von Dreux-Soubise as a Savate trainer, is about to be arrested for theft, the latter is able to flee. Arsène and his mother are thrown out of the house and discover a corpse in a field when they leave. Since the dead man wears Théophrastes ring, Arsène believed that his father had perished and took the ring for himself.

15 years later he has developed into a master thief who, among other things, steals from the upper class on ocean liner. The women are at his feet, and among the population he is not considered a villain but a hero. When he visits his mother, who has meanwhile become ill and whom he has not seen for a long time, in a hospital for the poor, he gets caught in a police ambush. Henriette Lupine ultimately distracts the officials with desperate tirades of hate, but dies after a subsequent collapse. An unknown nurse - Arsène has no idea that this is his cousin Clarisse - helps him to escape. Through her, like Théophraste once, he was able to stay at the castle as a martial arts teacher for her father - the Duke.

Arsène is bitter at first because he does not forgive Dreux-Soubise for his parents' exile, but stays because he loves Clarisse. During a nightly visit to the castle, he watches the Duke hurrying out of the house and follows him. It turns out that Dreux-Soubise belongs to a group of monarchists who, led by the Duke of Orléans, are planning a coup d'état against the Republican government. Several golden crucifixes play a decisive role - as does the mysterious Countess Joséphine, who is outlawed by many as a witch and who needs the crosses for her own plans. When the monarchists sentence her to death, Arsène is able to save the condemned from drowning. But shortly afterwards she escapes. The next day there is a falling out between Lupine and Clarisse, who does not want to allow him to spy on her father. He leaves the castle one more time, this time with the intention not to return.

Meanwhile, Arsène has succumbed to the Countess' charms and gradually steals the crucifixes to serve Josephine as a partner and lover. The thief, who lives on a houseboat , at first has doubts, but then agrees and goes with him to Paris . Another of the crosses is said to be here, which obviously point the way to a great treasure. When the Louvre is broken into , Lupine is spotted by Beaumagnan, the monarchists' henchman. He warns Arsène urgently about Joséphine and shows him by means of several paintings that she has left her mark on history. He also makes him believe that the countess, as his accomplice, is behind his father's death.

This is followed by a game of cat and mouse in which everyone involved tries to outsmart each other, largely falling by the wayside, until Arsène finally brings together all the clues: The crucifixes lead to a hiding place that houses the treasure of the French kings . Joséphine herself is the descendant of an alchemist who knows the secret of eternal youth and has been looking for treasure for centuries. She also owns a necklace that once belonged to Dreux-Soubise and that Arsène stole for his father as a child. Lupine therefore initially assumes that Joséphine murdered Théophrastes; a little later, however, Beaumagnan reveals himself at a reception in Orléans: he is Théophraste Lupine, who faked his own death in order to spy on the monarchists as an agent of the French government. However, like his son now, he fell under the charms of Joséphine and became her right hand.

At the reception, Lupine meets Clarisse again, who shortly thereafter tells him that she is expecting a child from him. When the monarchists take Joséphine hostage, a little later she can kill her tormentors with a bomb. Arsène falls under her spell again, but manages to avoid the temptation with a trick. The countess escapes with him and the crucifixes, leaving Clarisse, who was also kidnapped, on her ship and a bomb out of jealousy. Arsène is able to lock her and Beaumagnan up and at the last moment escapes with Clarisse from the exploding boat. A little later, Arsène finds out about the treasure hiding place. It is located in the Étretat rock needle . Here it comes to the final fight with Beaumagnan, where he falls from the cliff into the sea while trying to kill his son.

Sometime after the events everything seems to be fine: Arsène and Clarisse are married and have a son. But while the master thief is on one of his nocturnal raids, the escaped Joséphine penetrates his house thirsty for revenge, steals his son and murders Clarisse. Arsène in his desperation wants to commit suicide at first, but finally decides against it and resumes his unsteady life with further masquerades.

In 1913 he finally returned to Paris, where the Austrian heir to the throne is also on a state visit. He sees Joséphine again, who does not seem to have aged a day and wants to carry out a bomb attack on the Archduke through a young man . Arsène intervenes and realizes to his horror that Joséphine's helper is his now adult son. Lupine finally manages to detonate the bomb without injuring anyone. In the general hustle and bustle, both he and the opponent can then disappear. The film ends with Arsène and Joséphine looking each other in a dramatic moment in the knowledge that their fight - also for Lupin's son - is not over yet.

background

The use of the Ètretat rock needle as a treasure cave is a reference to the fictional character Lupine. In the stories, Arsène uses the hollow rock needle as a shelter and hiding place for various works of art. This is partially hinted at later in the film, providing an innovative explanation of how Lupine came to the hiding place.

Arsène Lupine - The King Among Thieves was one of the last films with Philippe Lemaire. The cardinal's performer died just a few months later.

Over 500 costumes were made for the film, including 20 for Duris.

Reviews

“Jean-Paul Salomé [...] created an elaborate, nostalgic adventure spectacle [...]. Exquisite: landscape, costumes, adventure! "

- Cinema

“Opulent adventure cinema from the other side of the Rhine, a richly equipped robber costume pistol with modern action trimmings in the direct tradition of classics of the coat and sword genre to more recent export successes such as Vidocq and Pact of the Wolves . Romain Duris ( The wild beat of my heart ) plays the title hero as a relaxed fun athlete, the finishing touches are done by constant action acts, well-placed supporting actors and the postcard-perfect scenery of Normandy "

- Video Week

Awards

At the ceremony of the César in 2005 was Pierre-Jean Larroque for the best costumes nominated.

synchronization

The German synchronous editing was done by the company Cinephon in the studios of Berliner Synchron AG, Berlin. Helga Trümper wrote the dialogue book and Marika von Radvanyi directed the dialogue .

role actor Voice actor
Arsène Lupine Romain Duris Dietmar miracle
Joséphine Balsamo Kristin Scott Thomas Traudel Haas
Beaumagnan Pascal Greggory Erich Rauker
Clarisse de Dreux-Soubise Eva Green Anna Carlsson
Duke of Dreux-Soubise Robin Renucci Stephan Schwartz
Duchess of Dreux-Soubise Françoise Lépine Liane Rudolph
Kesselbach Gérard Chaillou Hans-Werner Bussinger
Cardinal Etigues Philippe Lemaire Werner Ehrlicher
Le duc d'Orléans Mathieu Carrière Mathieu Carrière
Théophraste Lupine Nicky Naude Torsten Michaelis

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. cinema.de
  2. ↑ Arsène Lupine - The king among the thieves. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .