"And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen"
Valentin Valentin (Jeremy Irons) is a master of disguise and a crafty jewel thief working his crimes in London and Paris. Jane Lester (Patricia Kaas) is a lounge singer working in Paris and struggling in her relationship with an unfaithful trumpet player. What do these two different people have in common? They both suffer from blackouts and end up in Morocco at the same time where they each seek a cure to their ailment. But, Jane takes the mystical path and Valentin the traditional in director Claude Lelouch's "And Now, Ladies and Gentleman."
Although the title is a bit off-putting and there are too many "movies" contained in "And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen," I like the core story of the relationship between Valentin and Jane. One element stands out most in the film - Patricia Kaas is captivating as lounge singer Jane, both as the fine singer of multi-language standards and with her chemistry onscreen. The actress shows her character's faith in the spirit world as she seeks out the treatment of a witch for her malady then makes a pilgrimage to the grave of a famous shaman, Lolla Chafia, dead for some 150 years.
Jeremy Irons gets the chance to play multiple characters as her robs various exclusive jewelry store posing as a police inspector, an octogenarian, a dowager lady and a guitar-playing hippy. The actor pulls off the Alec Guinness-like performances with a capability that makes it all look easy. Irons is looking a bit worn by time these days but is capable of delivering a fully developed and sympathetic character in Valentin. In the twilight of his career he has dreams of paying back those he robbed and the sequences are amusing to watch. The romance between Val and Jane is mature and does not suffer from the age difference between the two.
The screenplay by Lelouch and Pierre Leroux should have stuck with the sometime surreal love story between Valentin and Jane. But, they include a relationship between the thief and a jewelry shop assistant, Françoise (Alessandra Martinez) who helped him with one of his crimes; a wealthy yachtsman, Thierry (Thierry Lhermitte), who sells Valentin a racing boat and harbors a crush on Françoise; and an extended "To Catch a Thief" sequence where a wealthy woman, Madame Falconetti (Claudia Cardinale, almost unrecognized - she did not age well), is robbed and Valentin is the prime suspect, a la Cary Grant. There is simply too much going on to allow "And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen" to find its level and stick with it. (BTW, "Ladies and Gentlemen" is the name of Valentin's yacht.)
The film looks gorgeous with Pierre-William Glenn's cameras capturing the stark beauty of the Moroccan desert scenes and the freedom of the sea as Val begins his lone journey around the world, but ends up in western Africa after yet another blackout. Costume (by Pierre Bachir), especially in the Africa sequences, is light, cool and breezy.
If "And Now, Ladies and Gentlemen" were more judicially constructed and less busy with its many stories it could have been a better film. The numerous side stories detract from the main relationship between Val and Jane. It is a remarkable debut for Patricia Kaas, though. I give it a B-.
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