"Place Vendome" makes a few strange decisions early on. You would expect a thriller set in the Paris jewel industry to be glamorous and sexy, but Nicole Garcia has other ideas. Instead, she presents the industry as corrupt, jaded and full of downbeat, sleazy people. Deals take place behind closed doors, in cheap hotel rooms, and dimly-lit office suites. Garcia does everything to make this atmosphere suffocating - there are few outdoors scenes initially. When the action shifts briefly to London, there are no establishing shots. The only clue that we're no longer in Paris is that the dialogue switches to English.<br /><br />This, no doubt, is an attempt to add realism to the milieu. It succeeds, but at the cost of draining the film of interest. Little narrative momentum is created, and the low-key lighting, presumably aimed at creating a noir atmosphere, ends up murky instead.<br /><br />The main interest lies, predictably enough, with Catherine Deneuve, in yet another mid-life crisis role. Of course, she holds the attention like the old pro she is, but this is itself a problem. We're introduced to various mysterious characters when Deneuve is off-screen, but they seem lifeless and uninteresting by comparison.<br /><br />And yet, the final half-hour actually works. Much is explained about the characters' motivations in a haunting flashback scene, set in an unforgiving wintry landscape. Following on from that the film finally develops some tension. However, this seems to be too little, too late. This is a wasted opportunity.