The Elegant Criminal

Directed by Francis Girod
1990    2h 5m
6.1
On 9 January 1836, Pierre Lacenaire goes to the guillotine, a murderer and a thief. He gives Allard, a police inspector, his life story, written while awaiting execution. He also asks Allard to care for Hermine, a lass to whom he has been guardian for more than ten years. In flashbacks, from the prison as Lacenaire writes, from Allard's study as he and Hermine read, and from other readers' memory after the book is published, we see Lacenaire's childhood as he stands up to bullies, including priests, his youthful thieving, his first murder, his brief army career, his seduction of a princess, and his affair with Avril, a young man who dies beside him.
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Cast of The Elegant Criminal
  • Daniel AuteuilPierre-François Lacenaire
  • Jean PoiretAllard
  • Jacques WeberJacques Arago
  • François PérierLacenaire's father
  • Geneviève CasileLacenaire's mother
  • Jean DavyAlphonse Damoiseau
  • Jacques DubyMarmignat
  • Paul Le PersonVigouroux
  • MaïwennHermine
  • Jacques SereysPertuizet
  • RufusCanler
  • Gérard DesartheProfessor Tonnelier
  • Jean-Damien BarbinBaton
  • Marie-Armelle DeguyPrincess Ida
  • Samuel LabartheThe abbot of Lusignan
  • Jean-Pierre MiquelThe president of the court
  • Jean-Paul MuelPoulaillon
  • Patrick PineauAvril
  • Aurélien RecoingFrançois
  • Yves DangerfieldDoctor Brianchon
  • Jean-Michel RibesLebel
  • Daniel MesguichIda's husband
  • François-Régis BastideThe superior
  • Claude MakovskiGeneral Counsel
  • Maurice BernartLambolley
  • Michel VocoretThe big
  • Gérald CalderonMay father
  • Henri LanoëThe first mogul
  • Jean-Luc DouinThe prison priest
  • Bertrand Van EffenterreDegroot
  • Henri ColpiThe head of the prison

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