The Phantom Tollbooth - Movies Reviews Index


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Home Subscribe About Us Features News Album Reviews Movie Reviews Past Movies Movie Resources Concert Reviews Book Reviews Top 10 Contact Us	Flawless Stars: Demi Moore, Michael Caine, Lambert Wilson, Nathaniel Parker, Joss Ackland and Natalie Dormer Director: Michael Radford Scriptwriter: Edward Anderson Composer: Stephen Warbeck Magnolia Films/Hyde Park Rating: PG 13 Running Length: 110 minutes The word “flawless” means perfection and in the diamond industry, it is a polished gem that exceeds expectation. Each facet melds with other facets to produce an exquisite stone---which is why the term “blood diamond” has two meanings. One is because greed can cause someone to kill to possess a perfect stone and the other is the circumstances under which diamond exploration and trade is conducted. Part of the latter is taken up in Flawless, just to let us know the price that is paid for jewelry. If you want the violent story, see Leonardo Di Caprio’s film, Blood Diamond. The 2008 film, Flawless, stars Demi Moore and Michael Caine. It is a exquisite period film set around 1960 that hauntingly brings back that time. Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love) has a fitting soundtrack and director Michael Radford films the actors in a rich light that resembles the Technicolor films of that time. Both Caine and Moore look great. The leisurely story has Demi Moore as Laura, an American who is educated in England and stays there to become a middle-level diamond executive. Because of a thick glass ceiling, she is continually passed over for promotion, though, clearly she is smarter than the rest of the guys. Michael Caine is Mr. Hobbs, the janitor, who is invisible to everyone, but keeps his eyes and ears open. When Laura is once again, passed over for promotion, Hobbs offers her a business proposition and it’s mind-boggling at that. From here on, the film picks up pace and becomes a thriller with twists and turns. Dialogue is sparse and utilitarian which I liked in “Flawless” so you can concentrate on the actors and their body language. Demi Moore, as the passed-over Laura is as cool as the proverbial cucumber. Caine, on the other hand, is talkative, as befit’s a working man and this serves his purpose. In the mix, is Lambert Wilson as an insurance investigator, Nathaniel Parker (PBS’s “Inspector Lynley”) as an another executive, friendly to Laura, and you may recognize Natalie Dormer (Cassie) from television’s “The Tudors.” Flawless is well-executed, though not quite flawless. Laura smokes way too much in the film, and although it was 1960 and allowed in an office, she is puffing constantly. Men are shown as not thinking things through clearly (except Hobbs) while the lone woman can out-reason them all. She speaks Russian and even at an elegant reception, dressed in a beautiful gown, the men downplay her. Being a woman executive in that time period was nearly impossible. The references to uprisings in mines and fixing the price of diamonds are brought in, though you aren’t hammered over the head with it. People who work in this business are caught up in the gleam of the polished stone, which clearly illuminates their thought processes. I imagine gold does the same. Demi Moore is an ice-cold Laura, though you see the warmth that is carefully hidden. She has given her life to being an executive and what has she accomplished? Another rejection. Caine has a courtly manner, though underneath there is a bit of steel. He has his own agenda. When Laura is questioned at the office, it is an example of self-control to the utmost. Here is a diamond to the core, reflecting just what she wants people to see. Copyright 2008 Marie Asner Submitted 4/24/08